Chronos
by tistrust
Summary: John died on Earth defending the world against evil alien invaders. Not a death fic.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Chronos

AN: NOT A DEATH FIC. AU took out Teyla's baby and it's kinda set in the fourth season. There aren't really any spoilers for any episode in particular, kinda just mentions things. It's a WIP and I actually really, really tried to finish this one before posting but apparently that only means I get to work on it for almost five months without getting very far. So in hopes of me actually finishing this story, I'm posting it half written with good ideas about where it will go. Reviews would be lovely.

Warnings: Language…so far as I can tell.

CHAPTER 1

--

When the call came John had answered the phone, then they had suddenly packed up and were on their way back to the airport. Teyla knew that nothing good could be happening and she understood why John didn't want her to go with him to the outpost but she knew that there was no way that she could walk away.

She had followed John in a military jet to Antarctica before the battle started. They landed as the pilots reported that enemy ships had just entered the atmosphere. She knew that John wanted to be up there with the other pilots but they both ran towards the chair after a frantically long wait in the elevator, knowing that it was the best way to win the battle without loosing too many lives.

The Earth suddenly shook and shuddered, toppling equipment and personnel everywhere. She fell into John and they had both crashed onto the floor, tangling into disorder. But John had barely a scratch on him and had been able to jump up and keep running.

She would have followed, she knew that she should have followed but others needed help at that moment and she couldn't bring herself to leave them because going with John meant that she would have to stand off to the side while he did everything. If she stayed here she could at least do something.

--

He woke up coughing and gasping for breath, instant fire ran up his sides. He tried to stop but hacked a few more times before he could. John fell back against the hard floor and looked up at a confused mess of concrete, rock, and snow. Blood slowly ran from his mouth, he could feel it dripping off his jaw and running down his neck but he hurt too much else where to care much.

He breathed heavily and tried to sit up but the moment he did something slipped further into his lower stomach and ground its way against his spine. Nope, not a good feeling at all. He moaned aloud and decided to stay put until he had a better understanding of his situation.

Grunting, he lifted his head and looked down. A metal beam had logged itself into his torso and beyond that he could see a large slab of gray concrete which trapped his legs. Beneath the fire that radiated up and down his upper body he felt nothing below his belt. Knowing that it couldn't be a good sign, John thunked his head back on the ground as the strain on his neck built.

The beam was probably the width of his palm and he had the distant thought that it was insane that he could still be alive with the amount of blood that pooled and soaked through his clothes. His eyes slipped shut and for a few moments he concentrated on trying to breathe enough to calm the agony.

--

It was over as quick as it had started and Teyla couldn't believe the amount of damaged sustained in less than half an hour. She had started helping the search and rescue teams dig through the rubble, knowing that the medical personnel were more than qualified to do their thing.

There had been so much noise before. Screaming and screeching following the explosions; cries from further down the corridors and echoes from other rooms. Equipment and people littered the hallways, and then the sudden crash of something directly dropping through the glass ceiling, the almost piercing silence as everyone knew what was next, and it was almost anticlimactic when the safety glass sprinkled down musically throughout the outpost.

Now the silence was gone, replaced with shouting and barked commands turning confusion into organized chaos. Teams of medical and military personnel were running around doing their best to account for everyone, and moving the most critically wounded onto waiting helicopters that would try their best to save them.

Teyla entered the tunnel towards the chair room along with a few others, they discovered the passage way blocked off with debris. Pieces of ice and chunks of rock obstructed the corridor and Teyla could tell right away that it would take more than a few hours to get through.

--

Torrents of hot agony threatened to pull him away from the world. He had to fight for every short, wheezy, and almost watery breath that he could take into his lungs and every time he exhaled he could feel a warm gurgle against the back of his throat which made him gag and choke and that was no good because then he would spasm and the pain only got worse. John was sure that he was going to slip soon because the fuzzy film over his eyes kept getting brighter and he knew that he had to try something or his fate would be sealed.

His arms were numb but he levered himself up and felt the beam slid in deeper. He slipped and fell back hard against the ground. Blood bubbled up and soaked into his shirt. Soon it would gush up with the rest of the blood and dribble onto the hard floor allowing him to feel the warm fluid under his palms.

His eyes drifted shut and he floated once again. Away from the blazing pain, spreading numbness, and cut off breaths he found a piece of space that allowed him serenity.

--

When they got the news it was already too late for them to do anything but they went through the gate nonetheless because…what else could they have done?

The trip back to Earth only takes half an hour but intergalactic law can't be bent and they had to wait at Midway for a whole 24 hours before the IOA, and thus the SGC, would let them pass. Rodney knew the laws were in place for good reason but right now things didn't seem to possess much sense.

Sheppard had gone home for Christmas, like half of the normal staff on Atlantis, and had taken Teyla along with him for her _real_ first trip to Earth. It was supposed to be a few days gone from the confusion of the Pegasus Galaxy, a way for him to connect with his brother and his brother's fiancée. Of course things never turned out well when you're affiliated with aliens and Stargates and explosions and things that go faster than anything should. But Rodney knew that one had to make the best of things. He had wanted to visit Jeannie but the lottery told him that he was with the second group and he would be getting New Year's back on Earth. Now it looked like he wouldn't get to see his niece until after all the festivities.

God, he hoped that Sheppard was all right. The man had an uncanny ability to get himself into the direst of situations. But he had to be alright because he was, well… he was Sheppard. He was the guy who just always came out of it, maybe with massive blood loss and severe brain damage but he'd make it.

Rodney sighed and checked the time again. Only ten minutes had passed since the last time he looked and he supposed that continuing to check wouldn't make it move any faster but he was nervous.

The SGC had only sent news three hours after the outpost in Antarctica was attacked. Enemy ships had suddenly appeared on Earth's radar and the SGC had called in everyone who had the gene and anyone who could help to the outpost. Sheppard of course was one of the first.

The battle had lasted for less the 20 minutes but by the end of it the outpost was half collapsed and now personnel were digging though the damage. They had search and rescue teams investigating sites where pilots had gone down. It was a complete mess and it was times like these where Rodney truly wondered how the Stargate program was still a secret.

--

Ronon spent the first few hours waiting around in his bunk; he wanted to conserve his energy to help with the rescue operations. Then news came and Teyla personally sent the message to tell them that they couldn't find Sheppard. There was no body. At first he thought that was good news: no body equals no death.

Then Ronon went to Midway's excuse for a training room. He had tried to sit still because he and Rodney were going to Earth and there was probably something that he could help with but every time he sat down, he couldn't stop thinking.

Sheppard was not only his leader but his friend, a fellow warrior who understood the meaning of loss and realized that some things just weren't worth it to talk about. They both understood action and being inactive now, while his friend was out there, in trouble or dying was unacceptable.

He needed to be doing the physical because that showed immediate tangible results, instant gratification. But right now, everything was against him. He had no way of helping anyone on Earth, least of all his friend. And he had no idea what was happening. He had to leave it all up to people he didn't know but had to trust.

A few hours after that, Colonel Carter reported to them that the amount of blood that had spilled and dried on the chair room floor was at least 3 liters, 'probably more'. Too much, way too much to lose and still be alive.

No body but too much blood flooding and soaking into the snow and the stone gray floor. No body but too much blood equals… It was simple, simple and exact. Clear as crystal and so very, very obvious.

He was gone. Sheppard was gone which meant that for all intents and purposes he was…


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

--

_Two weeks later _

Ronon found McKay typing away furiously on his laptop in one of the emptier science labs. He quietly sat down across from the physicist and waited for McKay to notice him. Ronon knew how hard it was to lose friends, especially good ones who were stupid enough to always put themselves after others. Accept and move on. He could do that, he'd done it many times before and he could do it again.

Sheppard deserved better than to die alone but there was nothing he could do. He had realized that as he was sitting on his bunk in Midway, light years away from being of any use. But that didn't make him any less angry.

"Ready?" Ronon grunted the question at McKay, knowing full well that the past five silent minutes he spent there had not gone unnoticed.

"There's so much to do," McKay glanced up for a moment and then back at his computer screen, "and you expect me to go back to Earth now?"

Ronon shrugged, "Yeah."

McKay huffed and stabbed in a few keys before standing up and slamming the laptop shut. As the scientist marched out the door, Ronon realized that they all had to go even if the 'casket was god dammed empty' as McKay put it.

On Sateda when someone died their funeral would be the next day. There would be a ceremony with words spoken before fire consumed what was left over when life was done. But that was before the Wraith attacked his world. For those weeks when Sateda and the Wraith fought, it was a completely different story, the number of times he stood in front of the fire jumped exponentially. Lives cut short by the Wraith were vast and many times they were just burning wood and sometimes he didn't know who they were talking about.

They were nameless but not faceless. He remembered everyone he ever had the honor of fighting with; the only thing he forgot was _when_ they were cut mercilessly away. He remembered a woman with jet black hair and a strength that easily rivaled Teyla's that had spoke greatly of a daughter who was placed into the arms of a grandmother, then sent off somewhere far in the hopes that the little girl would grow up. He remembered a young man, no more than a boy really, who could have ran, should have left, but instead stopped for one crucial moment to help him up. He remembered friends who would have gladly died if it meant that they could help others.

Maybe that was something to cry for. To know that the person who helped create something was unable to be there to see what would happen to the creation. Sheppard was taken before his time; like many others he knew, no one ever deserved death at the hands of the Wraith. Only this time it wasn't the Wraith but he could deal with that, he had dealt with death hundreds of times before. This time should be no different.

--

Many of them stood in charcoal windbreakers, the bottoms waving wildly in the winter wind. Others had somehow been able to live with just thick dark jackets and stuffing their frozen hands into small pockets. Everywhere around her people were wearing black. She had never known that black was their color of death before coming to his funeral.

There were around a hundred people there and to Teyla that seemed like a lot of people who grieved for the loss of one man. John had known many people throughout his life and Teyla could tell that he had probably made a huge difference in their lives, even if the man had never known it himself.

She couldn't believe it. It wasn't that she couldn't accept the death of someone close. She grew up with the reinforced knowledge that at any moment an attack could take away all those she loved. So it didn't make any sense that she couldn't accept John's death. It was just that she believed that he would come back. No matter how much she remembered the bright red of fresh blood on white snow and stone floor, she still thought that John was always about to enter a room, right behind any turned corner, and even at his funeral she was almost sure that he was standing right next to them. His presence almost warm and comforting.

But maybe she was just still in shock; at least that was what Jennifer had reassured her with when they talked it over. She just hadn't come to fully accept what happened yet. Yet it somehow, still, didn't make any sense. Two weeks should be enough time to accept the fact. It wasn't as if John had ever been gone from Atlantis for so long.

--

He had stared at the ground the entire time. Snow covered, soggy dirt as a winter wind swept his scarf into his face a few times. He had no idea what anyone said and he didn't know how he got back to the hotel but he did know that he had ended up in a bar with a three empty bottles of beer next to him and an open bottle of whiskey.

Ronon and Teyla were sitting across from him, they were in a booth off from the main bar and it was distressingly quiet. Drinks in their hands, the only sound that broke their silence was a quick scrape on wood as someone took a deep drink.

Rodney was sure that the information didn't fully digest in his mind yet. He couldn't even believe that they had just put an empty casket under six feet of cold dirt and called Sheppard dead because there was no way to explain his sudden absence to his family.

They buried an empty casket which meant that there was no body to prove to his family - brother - that Sheppard had truly died and that the military didn't make some sort of horrible mistake. And Sheppard's brother had every right to assume that maybe John didn't die. Because there was no body. That could mean a whole spectrum of things in this insane universe which he called home. The most likely of which was ascension, or least likely but it was probably the most likely because Sheppard had come close to that once. But no, he died.

He was dead. Wasn't he?

John Sheppard had died defending earth, just like every other damn hero. But it didn't seem right. The story shouldn't have ended here. No body, no rotting corpse to show that yes the man was truly forever lost to them. What did that mean?

But…it had to end here. There was no where else for it to go to, at least for Sheppard. He had always believed that when Sheppard died, and it had been a definite when because that man was a martyr at heart, that he would have been there with the man. Going down on the same ship because they had done just about everything else together since they ended up on the same team.

--

AN: Somebody say something!! Your silence is killing me. If you don't wanna say something, make a face, some sort of emoticon. Please?


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

--

_One month after Sheppard passed_

They didn't know what to do with his stuff, they were going to move it back to Earth but each time someone tried to pick something up, they would sigh and put it right back where they found it, so they just left all of it in his room. Once in a while Ronon would go into the room just to reflect.

He'd usually lean against the wall next to the window, from that corner he could see the entire room and he could remember everything that they had ever done in Sheppard's room. The team would play board games in there because Sheppard had the mentality of a teenager so he had requisitioned all the board games he owned. They'd normally watch movies in McKay's room because the scientist had the best media equipment. Both the Earthlings had small refrigerators in their rooms, so refreshments weren't hard to come by either way.

With Sheppard gone things seemed different. Not necessarily bad because he knew that he was accepted in Atlantis but it was like he was a little more cut off from the marines. He would work out with them normally but it seemed like it had been Sheppard who had kept them better allies.

It was strange being able to care so much one person that was missing from his life. In the past he was used to burying the feeling because if he even tried to stop and think he would be dead before he got anything useful out of it.

But now he had time to figure it all out and he was not only thinking of Sheppard but of Melena and Tyre and all his friends and family who were long past dead. He wondered how he could have gotten through all that and then realized that he hadn't. He'd never been able to think about it clearly and then he had just pushed and buried until it wasn't a problem.

He didn't want to touch that, he knew that if he did then he'd probably never be able to take things stoically again. The only way he could deal with things was to put it out of his mind. To concentrate on anything and work on something to keep himself busy, it was alright as long as he didn't have to dissect and analyze.

--

She sat lightly on John's bed and glanced around the room. Warmth wrapped around her and settled softly into her heart. She was safe here; she knew it without a doubt that nothing here would ever hurt her. Teyla wondered why she could feel so comfortable in her dead friend's room. She should have felt remorseful, depressed, angry, something more eccentric then an unexplainable calm which soothed her, told her that everything would be all right.

She wanted to ask the room how anything could be all right. She had lost one of her greatest friends and she had almost no idea about why she couldn't react to that. But she didn't believe that.

She never believed that, she knew he was dead but she didn't ever believe it. She wasn't reacting because there was nothing to react to. She wasn't completely crazy or apathetic; she just knew that John was going to be all right. Everything would be all right.

--

Rodney stood overlooking the endless sea surrounding the city. It was the only place he could find that could stop his running thoughts. The heavy smell of salt and something that was completely Lantian added to the alluring waves that lulled him away brought him a sense of peace that he couldn't get anywhere else, save for Sheppard's room. But that one he couldn't explain so he tried to avoid it mostly. Here at the end of the city he could forget about the depressing silences that the team now shared. The empty seats and the known but completely unsaid words that should have been taken by someone else. Or maybe that could have been just him and Ronon because Teyla was had been acting oddly for the last few weeks.

They were best friends and no matter what happened, because Rodney still hadn't decided if John was dead or…something else, the man was still gone and that above all still left something missing.

When Carson died he had gone and stood at the exact same spot but this time there was no welcoming sprit that came to say a final goodbye. He wasn't sure what he was expecting but he had thought that if he gave it a chance, perhaps John might be able to appear as well. Yet as much as he was hoping to see the spirit, he was hoping against it twice as much.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

--

_Three months after Sheppard passed _

Ronon was glad that they were finally doing something, even if this was his first off-world mission without Sheppard. They had enough of sitting around, what they needed was something to distract them and getting back out there was the answer. Then they could maybe forget about the huge hole that was left every time they sat down for a meal and any time they walked past Sheppard's room, still left untouched as if it were a shrine.

Except Ronon knew it wouldn't be that easy. He could lose himself with distractions and eventually he would be able to move on but he felt like he shouldn't move on. He knew that McKay was distracting himself to the point of exhaustion but it wasn't working well enough for the scientist. McKay couldn't help but think about possibilities and the probabilities and maybe the thought of stealing a Sheppard from an alternate universe/timeline/past popped up a few times but that was unlikely in any aspect.

Teyla seemed to be doing much better than McKay was but then again Teyla had always seemed emotionally stronger than most of them combined. She was just so sure in her ways and it appeared at times that she knew what was going to happen before anything did.

Ronon stopped his line of thoughts. There was no use thinking about what could have been because nothing would change what had happened. The only thing they could change was the future.

He checked the time and decided to go and pack early. Maybe that way he could have some time to go for a quick run before the mission. Ronon was almost out the door when he remembered that he had left one of his best knifes on his desk. He turned around and quickly slid over to his desk. He opened the top drawer but stopped suddenly as he recognized a yellow football-like shape that he never had in his room before.

He picked it up carefully and studied it, he was fairly sure that it was a _lemon_ because McKay complained about citrus enough and then Sheppard had once shown him a lemon that he had carried around when he wanted to avoid McKay.

Turning the lemon in his hands he felt something scratched into the skin. He went over the markings and then flipped on his desk light. Holding it under the lamp he could see the initials _JS_.

--

Teyla sat quietly on John's bed. She took a deep breath and gave into the peace that filled the room. Perhaps it was just her imagination but she liked to believe that he was still watching out for them. She wasn't the only one to visit the room, she realized mostly because things moved around once in a while and a photograph which was leaning against the wall then stood in the middle of the desk, the guitar which had been on the bed moved to its stand, and the skateboard which was hidden under the bed had come out mysteriously.

It brought her comfort to know that in this room it was a safe zone. She could sit and think and remember that John was all right because everywhere she turned people were clearly under the impression that the man was gone forever. She wanted to point out the fact that they had no real body to prove that but cold hard facts were hard to disprove and with the evidence given to her, she would have conclude that he was dead but her heart just wouldn't agree with her head. It was distressing because she had always followed her heart and this time should be no different. But she saw John go into that room and she knew he didn't come out. Only there was the nagging feeling that he was still here.

Only a week ago, they were on a planet where the natives didn't take kindly to them and had surrounded them, managing to push them into a cave. Somehow they kept them there long enough to trigger an avalanche which blocked off the main entrance. They were stuck for hours, without contact because the caves just bounced the radio signals around and they got no where with communications. Then she felt it, the warm comfort that slipped slowly into her heart and warmed her soul, it made her follow it through the tunnels which wound and confused even the best trackers. The others followed her in confusion and semi-annoyance but they arrived at a small opening that they were able to crawl out of.

She couldn't believe that it was luck and she couldn't ignore that it had happened, not that she wanted to but Rodney kept telling her that it was and she kept telling him off. She knew he was gone, it was painfully obvious. Except that didn't mean that he'd never be back.

--

Rodney was going crazy. That was the only reasonable explanation for this.

He punched in a few more keys onto his laptop, the only piece of tech that worked, and still nothing changed. The screen flashed the same coordinates that it had been since two that afternoon.

Rodney sighed, he supposed that it wouldn't hurt to check out it out. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do and Ronon had started to get extremely bored and decided that in exactly three minutes he would start tossing his _useless_ equipment out the damn window, which was at least three stories off the ground of the village oval because he could clearly see that it wasn't a circle.

At the thought he could almost feel someone snort at him and the laptop suddenly shut off by itself.

"_About time._" the voice was distorted and swirled in from every direction but that had to be in his head, he didn't hear anyone say it and no one else seemed to have noticed anything off.

Ten hours later Ronon, Teyla, some guy with red hair that Rodney couldn't exactly remember, and he walked through the gate to Atlantis with not one but two almost 70 percent charged ZPMs.

By the end of the night, when he was exhausted from excitement, he wasn't sure what to think. It had sounded like John, exactly like John; even though the voice was indistinct he knew it was. He kept running it through his mind but lying in bed, staring at the ceiling got him nowhere and he drifted off hearing an oddly comforting voice call him an idiot.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Thank you for the reviews!!

CHAPTER 5

--

_Six months after Sheppard passed_

Rodney frowned and mumbled under his breath as he walked back through the gate. Just another boring planet with boring villagers, who tried to kill them on sight when they saw him light a match. He swore to himself that the next time it happened he would seriously burn the village down.

"Cheer up, McKay," Ronon grumbled at him, "It wasn't that bad."

"Speak for your self, Conan," Rodney shot back, "I'm not the one who actually enjoys running for my life."

Ronon only grinned in response which left Rodney nothing to do but glare back. He supposed that it was a little childish but it had always been their way of getting through things and now they relied on it more than ever. Before they had Sheppard as a buffer between them, balancing military/warrior with complete and utter techno babble. Now they only had three team members plus a pilot who was replaced every few weeks because after a while, there would just be something that reminded the team of Sheppard in every young pilot.

Teyla sighed and even though she looked away, Rodney knew that she had rolled her eyes. He had to smile because before living on Atlantis, she had never done such a thing.

They walked slowly to the infirmary for their post mission check up and between the insults that were being shot from Ronon and Rodney and the comments from Teyla, Rodney knew that the new pilot would only last another few days before he had to be transferred to a different unit.

It wasn't that they didn't want to let anyone else in; they just needed to find the right person. One who didn't remind them of Sheppard and couldn't bury themselves into their hearts after a few dangerous missions. Only…Atlantis seemed to be full of those people.

--

_Seven months and three weeks after Sheppard 'died'_

Cold. He was very, very cold. It seeped into his bones and made his brain feel frozen and ready to crack and break into a million tiny pieces. He shivered, wrapped his arms around his midriff and curled up becoming as small as possible to conserve heat.

His eyes suddenly snapped open. He should never be this cold. Atlantis was always a set temperature and his room never went below 65 degrees.

He was outside where scattered trees surrounded him and the broad black sky stretched from horizon to horizon. Stars glittered bountifully, twinkling merrily and helping the two moons light up the planet with an odd, almost purplish glow. Not his room then.

He scrambled to his feet and spun in a wild circle looking for anything that would indicate a threat to his immediate safety. In response the trees swayed gently in a small breeze and he realized he was completely alone.

Where was he? The last thing he remembered was… home. He had been home, not Atlantis but Earth. He had been visiting his brother, trying as they said they would, to make amends. Things were going well and John could say with all honesty that this was the closest he'd been with his brother for years; which was also quite depressing because he could also say in all honesty that he didn't know shit about his brother.

Except now the question was: how did he get here? Earth to weird planet with two moons and disturbingly quiet nocturnal wildlife… Earth to weird planet. He must have missed something along the way. Probably something majorly important except he couldn't explain it. He had somehow gone from being home to waking up on a completely unknown planet in a questionable galaxy with no idea how to get back to Atlantis…or Stargate Command, whichever one was closer.

An abrupt wave of dizziness hit him and he swayed dangerously but managed to stay up right. John took in a deep breath and brushed his hand through his hair. He winced as he hit a bump at the top of his head. There was no need to panic, panicking only made things worse. Deep breath and clear mind. He quickly pulled his hand away and staggered in a slower, more oriented circle.

John realized that he was in a small clearing wearing a loose shirt, trousers, and boots. Only the familiar warm metal of his dog tags against his chest gave him any indication of his past. The clothes were reminiscent of material from Earth and they instantly made him wonder where his own stuff was. He checked himself over and could only find a knife strapped to his ankle.

John shuddered and crossed his arms over his chest, something was very wrong. No team, no radio, no watch, no gear of any kind, and above all no idea of how much time had passed between Earth and here, no freaking clue about how to get back or what the hell happened. Great, just great.

He sighed, another thing to add to his long list of crap that had happened to him in the last four years. Since the ground held no trace of anyone disturbing the greenery, he randomly decided on a direction and he walked out of the clearing. There was no reason for him to stay in unknown territory, especially without any defense.

A soft crackle of dried leaves to his right sent him spinning towards the source of the noise. If the woods had been a little livelier, he would have thought that it was some sort of small mammal, but with the deathly silence there it was just plain creepy.

John strained his eyes and focused between the trees, searching for the movement that would give whoever it was away when he was suddenly tackled to the ground. John kicked out and pushed up at the same time, flipping the tackler flat on his back. He swiftly scrambled atop his attacker and pressed down on the man's windpipe, only enough to convey that he was serious about choking the man to death if need be.

The man frowned at him and pried at his fingers. "Sh-ep," the man choked.

John instantly loosened his grasp, but kept his hands firmly around the man's throat, "Who are you?"

"What the 'ell are you talkin' about?" the man arched off the ground and threw John off of him. They both scrambled to their feet at the same time but neither of them made any other move. Slowly the man raised his hands in the universal peace sign, which allowed John to relax slightly. "Calm down Shep."

John scowled at the dark haired man, who could be no older than himself. The man had called him a version of his surname twice while John had no idea who he was. Giving the man a good look, John found nothing that would make him stand out from any other villager that he had met recently. He was about the same height and although his hair was longer than American guy standard, it stayed out of his face easily. He wore clothes that were extremely similar to John's own, maybe this style was overly popular. "Who are you?" John repeated, a little more calmly.

"It's Adnon. Are your eyes really that bad?" the man… Adnon replied with a small chuckle, "Come on, Shep." Adnon moved past him and motioned for him to follow along.

John stood still. He was absolutely sure that he had never met this guy before, yet here Adnon was seemingly familiar enough with him to be able to joke around. He shook his head, "I don't know you."

Adnon stepped closer to him, looked him in the eyes and after a moment's contemplation he muttered, "You're serious."

Of course he was serious, why would he lie about something like this? Again, John ran over what he last remembered and still nothing came back to tell him what the hell he was doing on an unknown planet.

Adnon swore and quickly uttered, "Listen, this happened before but we don't have time to talk. I promise that everything will make sense soon, trust me."

Trust him? Trust a virtual stranger who appeared to know enough about him? It wasn't like he had too much trouble trusting people, but trusting a person he had never met was a bad idea, no matter what planet he was on. However, he had little choice to do anything else.

John nodded tersely and followed Adnon through the trees. They traveled at a speed which was almost a run but not quite a jog. As the trees started to thin out, John supposed now was a good as time as any to ask the question that was at the forefront of his mind for the last 30 minutes. "Adnon, where's the Stargate?"

Adnon turned sharply and hushed him, "We can talk later when it's safe."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

--

Teyla smiled at the mayor of the small town they found a few miles away from the Stargate. They had finally reached a trade agreement which allowed both parties to be satisfied. She and her team left the planet knowing that the first shipment was due in two days. Sadly, this was the best news that they had in a while.

As she finished with the infirmary she walked towards John's quarters. For the last three months things had been going differently. She could no longer feel the sudden warmth when entering John's quarters and she knew that on their missions they were alone. John's presence was missing and until then she hadn't know how much it had meant to her that he was hanging around.

Rodney and Ronon hadn't seemed to notice anything but the streak of bad luck that they were now having. Although at some points she was sure that Rodney believed as much as she did that John was coming back, but she was almost certain that Rodeny only thought so on a subconscious level, not on any real level that actually meant he really did consider it a possibility. With Ronon it was different, the Satedan had marked John as dead and knowing Ronon had trouble with people being switched across the line of dead or alive that would mean that Ronon had worked through John's death with experience, albeit with great sadness.

She gently picked up one of the team photos that had sat on John's bed stand. Staring at it she realized that she had forgotten how messy his hair could get and she had even forgotten how his eyes wrinkled up with a real smile. She sighed as she set the picture down and then sat down heavily on his bed. Something big was going to happen soon, she could feel it in her bones.

--

_He was at his brother's house for Christmas. He was sitting next to Teyla on a fairly nice couch in the living room, waiting for dessert. _

_It hadn't been half as bad as he thought it would be, but John wanted a break from the scrutiny for just a moment. He had excused himself and briskly walked outside his brother's house. Standing on the porch, he had stared out at the surrounding trees and took in a deep breath. _

_It had been a long time since he had breathed in a good measure of Earth's air and instantly he could tell that there was a faint smell of exhaust in the air even though the closest highway was about five miles out. He missed the peace that Earth offered but he knew that in order to keep this peace, he had to be out there ensuring that the lives here went undisturbed. _

_Then the phone rang and they suddenly had to go to the outpost in Antarctica. Something was happening and O'Neill wasn't around to use the chair, it had to be him. That wasn't a big deal but in order to get there in time they had to leave right away. _

"_This sort of thing happens when you work for the military, Dave." He explained to his brother as he threw his bag and Teyla's bag into the trunk of the rental car. _

"_It's Christmas," Dave exclaimed, "you're on vacation!"_

_John couldn't answer as he jumped into the driver's seat. He had plenty of vacation time, but he'd have to leave now if he ever wanted to use any of it again. _

"Shep," Adnon hissed, halting his memories, "over here."

Adnon was standing next to a tree, which looked somewhat related to Redwoods and reminded him of when he had visited Yosemite where width of the trunks were as big as a good sized car. Adnon urgently waved at him as he stepped closer to the tree. It looked real and if glanced at, it would look no different then the rest of the gigantic trees in the forest but Adnon placed his foot on a large brown rock which was against the base of the tree and pushed in then suddenly the trunk opened inwards.

"Shep!" Adnon called out and grabbed his arm, pulling him into the tree before he could protest, "We're here."

The doors automatically closed as John glanced around the inside of the tree. It was like being inside a paint can except there was light and in the middle of the tree was a room sized column. They approached the column and on either side of the doors were two men who looked extremely bored.

"Adnon!" the tall, light haired guard called out, "Shep, nice of you to break the monotony, Jez can't keep up a good conversation."

"You two are on guard duty?" Adnon asked surprised, "We are so going to die."

"I'm just happy that I don't have to do this for another month," the guard replied.

John smiled back as the other guard, Jez, pressed his hand against the key pad and punched in a numerical code. Staring at the lock, John realized that wherever he was the tech on this planet seemed to match Earth. He had always wanted to meet a civilization which had similar technology.

"It's not like Marx ever has anything good to say," Jez shrugged as he opened the door for them, "It's just easy to ignore him."

Marx scoffed and looked expectantly at Adnon and then him, "Anything wrong?" he asked suddenly, as if sensing the disturbance that John kept feeling.

Adnon sighed, "Shep has amnesia again."

"Again?" John almost shouted. _Again_? It couldn't be _again_ because _again_ would mean that he had it before, and he certainly didn't remember having amnesia. But then isn't that the whole point of amnesia?

Adnon, Marx, and Jez shared a look and John was about to yell when Adnon ushered him though the door, "We'll explain later."

"Sure," Jez gave John a concerned look over and turned to Adnon, "just be careful."

It looked like an elevator, except it was the size of a room and just as the doors started to close Marx leaned inside and held the them, "By the way, Shep, Trin is looking for you." Marx slid back and waved happily as the doors slid shut.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

--

Next week would be the start of their one week mandatory vacation. Usually whenever they had so much time off, he and John would request a few days leave and go back to Earth for a bit. This was the first time he had a week off since John passed and maybe he should have stuck to his normal routine but he just didn't want to make the trip back alone.

Together they generally spent the day at Midway watching movies and fighting over Soduku puzzles. But now he had to do that alone and Rodney was sure that he couldn't face that yet. In time he could, but not only after eight months. And yes, eight months may seem like a lot of time but really it depended on the situation.

It just wasn't enough time yet. He had adjusted, not greatly but he had. Rodney had never gotten to the point of caring so much about the death of a friend until he ended up in Atlantis. On Earth he only knew of his sister and his niece who he deeply cared about. But on Atlantis, the list went on and on.

So maybe he was crazy for putting a single thought into Teyla's weird delusion that Sheppard would come back or maybe he didn't have the heart to deny the possibility that it could happen. Crazy stuff happened all the time and if John Sheppard could survive being taken hostage and fed on by a Wraith, then why couldn't the man come back from the dead?

Because that would completely ignore the rules of, well, everything. But…

--

The elevator didn't prove to be anymore interesting than a regular elevator. John supposed that it could be used as an evacuation device due to its vastness, the elevator room could easily fit fifty people. There was even a first aid corner where a large white cabinet with a sort of glass covering stood.

John wondered who Trin was as he lightly fingered the dog tags under his shirt and instantly knew that something was wrong with them. He quickly yanked them out and stared at them. The metal was greenish but the size was almost the same as the standard issue ones he got from the military. He could have easily mistaken them for each other, but the color was wrong and the texture felt smooth in a way his tags never did. He couldn't read the writing that was engraved but he assumed that they identified him.

"What's this?" John asked as he held up the tags.

"Identification tags," Adnon answered as he pulled out his own and showed an exact replica. "They came up with the idea hundreds of years ago but during the War, everyone got them. Too many bodies."

John nodded, he didn't know what War Adnon was talking about but decided that he didn't want to know at this point, he had a bigger question to ask, "Where's the Stargate?"

"The what?" Adnon frowned at the terminology.

"You know, the Ancestors' Ring." John explained.

"Oh," Adnon nodded, "you mean the Ancient Ring. It's in Laynend National Park, about fifteen kilos west of here."

John smiled, they had a Stargate which meant that he would be able to go home and figure this mess out. Wait, _Ancient_? Did that mean that he was in the Milky Way Galaxy? Or did they just call it the Ancient Ring because it was really old? He had to get to the Stargate, once he saw the gate then he would know which galaxy he was in and which Alpha site he had to dial to.

"Why do you want to know?" Adnon leaned back against the metal wall and crossed his arms, "It's useless."

John shook his head, "No, that thing can take me home."

"Take you home?" Adnon raised an eyebrow at him, "Shep, you _are_ home."


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Thank you for the reviews!!

CHAPTER 8

--

Ronon watched as many of the natives turned away from his team and then steadily ignore them as Rodney shouted to them that they were 'making a huge-ass mistake' and that they would 'die a terrible death all because logic is the equivalent of witchcraft'.

He sighed, it seemed of late that things weren't going as well as they used to. He even felt less secure when going off world with Teyla, McKay, and the pilot of the week. This was probably the hardest blow of late because they had all the power to help the natives, if only they would listen. Teyla had tired but the society was a patriarch, so they naturally didn't listen to her. Rodney they listened to but being his usual charming self, couldn't convince a bird to eat a bug. He believed that they respected him but they knew that he somehow lacked a certain sense of authority. The new guy didn't even know where to begin.

So they turned around with McKay muttering darkly under his breath, knowing full well that the planet would be struck by a meteor half the size of Atlantis, only saving the few people of the planet who actually believed their story. It wasn't much, not more than a group of twenty from a village well over two hundred, but it was the best they could do.

Ronon was sure that Sheppard would have been able to do more, convince all of them that the right thing to do was to leave and to come back when the destruction had mellowed out. Get the hell out of Dodge and be able to come back and rebuild all that they loss. But no one would believe them so the people would die here.

--

_They had made it just as the battle started, a little late but good enough. When the elevator got them to the bottom floor he ran off towards the chair room, knowing that Teyla was right behind him. Then everything went sideways as the earth shook with the blast of something huge. _

_But he was okay and he knew he had to get to the chair because then he would be able to make sure that the outpost wouldn't suffer another hit like that. He jumped up and kept running. He skidded to a stop in front of the chair and all but leapt into it. _

_He concentrated and he could feel the familiar hum of Ancient technology. He started to fire off drones and he hit twenty enemy ships that were too close for comfort before aiming at the biggest one. He fired off a few more drones at the weak points that someone yelled at him through his headset to aim for._

_Then the earth shook again and he knew a ship must have slipped through and gotten too close as he was concentrating on the huge ship. He watched the ceiling start to crumble and instinct kicked in. He was off the chair and rushing for the door… _

The elevator had gone swiftly down a tube and when the doors opened, John could almost forget that he was underground. There were lights everywhere, streaming down from bright overhead florescent bulbs, the beams turned an unnatural yellow by the time it reached the mass of people going about their daily business.

As John followed Adnon out of the elevator a few people smiled and waved at him. Being lost and extremely confused, John waved back with a grim smile of his own.

Steel walls surrounded an open area where John could see a multitude of people working. Young children ran through the crowd, screaming and playing around, and it almost seemed like a busy town on any other unnamed planet in the Pegasus Galaxy, only with a lot more tech than most planets had. Many of the adults carried slim laptops and some of them were dressed in green and brown uniforms. John suspected that the uniforms marked them as military or militia or whatever the hell they had. Every few feet the steel wall would open up into a corridor and John had no idea how anyone would be able to tell them apart.

"Shep!" a little boy ran into him, hugged his leg, and bounced back while holding up a piece of paper, "Look what I made you."

"That's amazing," The boy held up a drawing of some sort of bright green dog-like animal, John grinned at him and hoped that the child didn't notice his hesitance, "thank you."

"Hi, Mat," Adnon jumped in, "Can you tell me where Mommy is? I heard she's looking for Shep."

Mat nodded and crammed the drawing into John's hand, "Yea, she's in the 'teria." He waved at them and ran a few doors down.

"That's Mat," Adnon informed him.

"I noticed." John replied as they followed the little boy.

"I know it's a bit much to ask," Adnon said slowly as he pushed open the door the cafeteria, "but can you-"

"Not let the kid know that I don't remember him?" John asked, he could tell Mat knew him very well, or at least liked him a lot, and he knew enough about kids, and normal people in general, to know that they didn't take too kindly to being forgotten.

John stepped inside the cafeteria and instantly someone launched themselves against him in an enveloping hug. Momentarily surprised, he was too stunned to act even when the person- girl, no woman pulled away from him.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

--

If John could hazard a guess, he was sure that the woman was in her late twenties. She had long black hair and bright brown eyes that easily conveyed her sincerity. She smiled happily at him as she kissed his cheek. At that John wasn't sure where their relationship stood because girls were strange. And a kiss on the cheek could mean anything from close friendship to new relationship. Of course he also had to consider that he was on a different planet where this could be the normal way that women greeted. He almost sighed a breath of relief when the she repeated the hug and kiss on Adnon, but it hadn't completely reassured him, mostly because it didn't seem as if it had lasted as long.

"Mama," Mat pulled at the woman's pants, "Is Shep gonna play with me today?"

Adnon cleared his throat and the woman looked at him strangely, "Mat, why don't you go play with the other kids and Shep can play with you later?"

Mat frowned as he seriously thought over the request but then nodded, suddenly lunged and hugged John around his legs, and ran out the door. John turned back to see the woman giving Adnon the 'explain everything this moment' look. Adnon glanced around but must have decided that the cafeteria had not been private enough as he led them back out the corridor and into a nearby room and John had to agree because several people were already pointing and whispering.

"It happened again, Trin." Adnon said as he quickly shut the door.

"What is with this _again_ stuff?" John demanded, "When did I have amnesia?"

Adnon looked torn between explaining the situation to Trin and explaining the past to John. Then Adnon gave him an apologizing glance and faced Trin, "We were coming back and I don't know what happened but Shep tackled me and then he said he didn't know who I was."

"I didn't tackle you," John said, "you tackled me."

"Why would I tackle you?" Adnon asked, "You tackled me."

"Why would _I_ tackle you?" John shot back, "I don't even know you."

"Okay, okay," Trin held up her hands, "you ran into each other. Just get on with the story"

Adnon walked towards the bed against the other wall and sat down, "We came back, ran into nothing at all important, and he kept asking me questions. He doesn't remember anything."

"Hey," John interrupted, "I'm right here."

"I know." Adnon grinned at him.

"And, I can remember stuff," John said slowly and when they both shot towards him, he stepped back, "just nothing about…here."

Trin shook her head and anxiously looked John over and checking his pulse then his pupils, "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah," John replied, a little surprised at the actual concern in her voice and the impromptu physical, "Just a bit of a headache."

She slowly turned and took a cup off the shelf and filled it with water from a sink, "This isn't good." She muttered as she handed the cup to him, "Not good at all."

John quirked an eyebrow at her then nodded his thanks for the water. He quickly downed the glass and set it on the table when the awkward silence got too much he asked, "Can you tell me what's going on?"

Trin stared directly into his eyes, "You have absolutely no idea about what's happening?"

John nodded with a grim smile, "I don't even know what planet I'm on."

Trin and Adnon shared a look and it seemed like they were going to question him about the phrasing but decided not to.

"So where shall we start?" Adnon asked himself, "A few days ago? Lunar cycles?"

John looked at him questioningly, "I don't know how much time passed since the last thing I remember."

"What do you remember?" Trin asked curiously.

"I was at my brother's house-" John began but was cut off by Trin and Adnon as they began shouting that they never knew he had a brother. Although it made sense, because according to them because when they knew him, he didn't remember that he had a brother. John sighed, "Wait, wait. You guys explain first."

"Fine," Adnon sighed, "So we're at war with the Vamps, before-"

"Vamps?" John questioned, "As in vampires?"

"The very same," Adnon replied then tilted his head and thought aloud, "maybe we should record this incase this happens again."

John scowled at him while Trin scoffed, "Anyways," she continued, "before the Vamps came we were at war with each other."


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Thank you for the reviews!! Your continuing support is really helping, and I'm sorry if I forget to post, I'm moving out in a few days and everything I own is everywhere.

CHAPTER 10

--

He figured that Choma must have been on the very brink of the Pegasus galaxy because their world had been at the peak of their history. They had computers and technology that could easily rival Earth's. The total population had almost reached seven billion and even though they had problems, they knew their history and they knew exactly where they came from. Of course that didn't mean that the various countries agreed on much, apparently politics never changed, no matter where you go.

Tension had built up between two of the three superpowers on Choma. They couldn't agree on anything but they didn't go to war until an accident happened on neutral ground, later they found out that a gas line had busted and leaked causing an explosion on the ground floor of a forty story trade building. Each side blamed the other while the third superpower stood back and waited. By the time the truth came out, it was too late.

Nations banned together and tried to overthrow their neighbors, Choma was in total chaos. Millions died and then there were natural disasters happening across their globe, bringing the death toll up into the billions. Droughts dried up entire harvests in some countries while floods wiped out fields of crops in others. The major fault line which ran through the third superpower nation finally had their big one which caused the worse damage in hundreds of years and still the war persisted.

As the war started to wind down the Wraith had appeared. Once the people of Choma realized the bigger threat sides changed almost instantly overnight into two main groups. Those who wanted to fight the Wraith and those who would serve the Wraith.

The numbers of those who allied with the Wraith were dramatically lower than the numbers who wanted to resist but over the last year when Choma was in a siege, the population of the resistance had shrunk to a few million on each continent, the demographic spread out accordingly enough to provide bases of operations across the globe.

The Wraith had a hive ship in Choma's orbit, John supposed that whatever happened, the hive ship couldn't leave and wouldn't send a signal for help. But why would they, this was a great place to stay. The feeding ground here was huge compared to the rest of the galaxy and they didn't have to share. Which might explain why the hive never culled with darts. Drones and even the higher ups would come down to the planet and personally chase down their food.

He arrived as the resistance was starting to work but he helped them become better. He knew more about Wraith technology than anyone on their planet, even though he hadn't been able to explain why, and they trusted him because he proved himself numerous times.

He was a part of their fight. He had become a part of their lives. He had a place among their ranks and he had a place in Trin's heart as well as Mat's. But he didn't know anything about them, yet he cared. He had to leave but only because he needed to find out what happened to Atlantis. He had to come back, if only see his part to the end.

--

"We have to tell everyone." Trin realized aloud.

"No," Adnon shook his head and started pacing, "we can't."

"They'll figure it out, Adnon," Trin replied, "He doesn't even remember Mat."

"No," he spun around and faced her, "they don't have to know, he can pretend. I'll convince the council to let us go to the ring."

"Didn't you tell Marx and Jez? Besides," Trin scoffed, "they trust Shep more than they trust you."

"Look, all I'm saying is that if I can talk to the council then they won't find out that he doesn't remember them."

"What I'm saying is that they'll think it's weird that he isn't talking to them about it."

"HE is standing right here," John broke in, completely confused about what they were arguing about.

"I know that," Adnon grinned, "but we're pretending that you're not."

"Great," John muttered, "what's the problem anyways?"

"Well," Adnon sighed loudly, "the leader of the strike force of our entire country has amnesia and has to lead an attack in five days."

"What-"

Adnon shushed him, "Let me finish before you start with more questions. Included in this major problem of mine is the fact that you can't remember being the leader of the strike force and the fact that no one knows your whole plan except you."

"All we know is that you said you knew exactly where to aim," Trin added with a shrug.

John nodded, he was leading some sort of attack in five days and he wasn't even sure what his plan was. "I'm in the military here?"

Adnon laughed, "Everyone here's in the military; we wouldn't be able to live if we all didn't fight. The only ones that aren't part of the fight are the children."

"What do you guys do?" John asked, curious and wanting to let the explanations sink in for a bit.

"I used to be a scientist," Adnon said quietly, "Now I help build explosives. Which really isn't that bad but it's not quite where I wanted my life to be."

"Medical school," Trin said in the same distant tone as Adnon, "I was going to be a surgeon, but when the war started I went into emergency medicine. I was a field doctor until the Vamps came."

"What do you do now?" John asked.

"Strategy," Trin shrugged as if that could have been a logical jump in some universe, "Apart from you, I know the Vamps the best."

John nodded, but that still didn't explain everything, "If the Wraith- I mean Vamps are attacking yo-this planet, why does it matter if we're out during the night or day?"

"It happened during the War, Shep," Adnon explained, "I helped create the prototype but I never thought; I never even imagined that it would turn out this way."

"What?" John questioned just as he thought that it was just _wonderful_ that this planet had more than one enemy because it made things just _so much simpler_.

Trin sighed, "We turned to bio-warfare."

Oh that can't be good…

"You know to try and see if we could neutralize all the aggressive feelings." Trin licked her lips and looked to Adnon to continue.

"It didn't turn out like we planned," Adnon said and then laughed, "Actually, it didn't work at all, at least on people."

"What happened?" John prompted.

"We don't know for sure," Adnon admitted, "but we think it leaked and Denevia found out. They sabotaged us; I don't even think they completely knew what we were doing because I'm sure they didn't want this to happen."

Adnon took a deep breath and continued, "The Jandors, the Pax changed them. They used to be scavengers, stayed mostly in deserts but since the Pax, they're everywhere and they kill anything that moves. They hate the dark though, so we're at least safe from them at night."

"Jandors?" John quirked his eyebrow.

"Yeah," Adnon nodded but at John's continued confusion he explained, "you know, birds almost as big as Mat."

"Those are some huge ass birds." John replied seriously.

Adnon and Trin both burst out laughing as if it were the funniest thing in the universe.

"What?"

Trin giggled, "That's what you said the first time."


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Forgot to mention, the only thing from Firefly/Serenity is the thing about the Pax, I love that idea.

CHAPTER 11

--

After the debrief he had with a few members of the council where they relegated John's total amnesia of Choma to a somewhat fuzzy recollection of recent events due to an injury, Adnon told him that he had to go on duty but he'd try to get off early so that he could give him a tour. He didn't know where to go or what to do so Adnon suggested that he go pick up Mat from class, then the man rushed off in a hurry before John could even decide on which question to ask first. _When does he get out? How long does it take to get there? _Hell,_ where was it?_

He wasn't sure if he was going in the right direction but that didn't really matter, he _looked_ like he knew where he was going and he didn't want to stop and ask for directions. He was pretty sure that no one else had noticed that he had lost his memory although there were a few odd stares and other than that there was no reaction, still he wasn't sure if he should take that as a compliment or an insult. But then again, just because he forgot who he was didn't mean that he still wasn't the same man.

John walked deeper into the underground city and found that the deeper he went the more colorful it got. The walls were still the gleaming shade of gunmetal steel but now there were all sorts of things decorating the walls and floor. There were bicycles leaning against doorways or laid carefully on the floor, doodles of unknown animals covered the walls from about his mid-torso down, toys that he had never seen before were strewn carelessly against walls and in the middle of the hallway. It was clear that he was at least heading the right way.

It seemed sensible enough that they would keep the children in the most protected part of their city. He paused as he came towards a doubled door room, even from at a hundred paces away he could tell that it was akin to a playground. Shouts and laughter bounced off the walls and echoed in his ears. He smiled, kids could always be counted on to find something happy, even in the most hardest of times. He leaned against the open doorway and grinned when he saw a small group of boys trying to launch an ugly looking stuffed animal off a seesaw.

"Shep!" a few different little voices called and John looked down to find five children all of them grinning up at him, the youngest being about Mat's age and the oldest no more than ten.

John smiled back, "Hey, kids."

A few of them laughed at his greeting, he wasn't sure what they found funny but he was willing to go along with it.

"How was the mission? Did you see the Vamps?" the tallest kid, who John assumed to be the oldest, asked.

"How about the Jandors?" another little girl asked as she tugged at his leg.

He kneeled down and looked at the boy who asked the first few questions, he had light brown hair and dark blue eyes, "The mission went great and luckily we didn't see any Vamps." The little boy smiled and John couldn't help but ruffle his hair. Turning to the little girl he smiled as he noticed that she was dressed up like a fairy, fake wings almost falling off her shoulders and a wand clutched in her right hand, "And no Jandors either."

She grinned back at him and threw her arms around his neck then bounced back and with one hand on her hip, she waggled her finger at him, "Good, Shep, you need to stay out of trouble."

John barked out a laugh as he gently patted her head, apparently he got into enough trouble here for even the kids to realize it. The little girl gave him one last smile before grabbing the arm of a little friend and running off, the other little girl just giving him a small wave.

The boy sighed, "Alke is so dumb, Jandors don't come out at night."

"Hey," John chided, "language."

The boy shrugged but looked at least a tiny bit apologetic so John smiled at him and they talked a bit more until a bell rang. He shouted a goodbye and ran off towards a door at the other end of the room.

At that moment someone launched themselves against the back of his legs and almost made him fall forward. Twisting around he found Mat practically attached to him. "Hi."

"Whatcha doin 'ere, Shep?" the boy asked.

"Not much," he answered, "aren't you supposed to go to class?"

Mat shook his head, "Only the big kids now, the little kids can go home."

"Okay, then." John drawled and picked up the little boy who almost immediately started talking about his day and how someone named Rani had stolen Mat's pencils and tried to glue them in a form of a flower.

"You gowin the wrong way," Mat reported as he made a left turn.

"Right, sorry," John apologized and made a one eighty turn. That was the third time that Mat had to correct him and John knew that soon the little boy would probably figure out that he isn't himself, whatever that meant.

--

It wasn't a huge secret, apparently Jez or Marx had a big mouth and by the end of the day a lot of people knew, according to Adnon it was only their inner circle of friends but that only made John think that they had a really huge ass circle of friends. At least they all had sympathy and no one questioned him more than he wanted them to about his memories.

What he couldn't believe was that they trusted him that much, maybe it was because they thought of him as one of them, which they still thought because he hadn't mentioned the fact that he was born on a different planet, much less the possibility that he was born in a different galaxy.

The council knew the truth now and Adnon, Trin, and he were unsure as to how the council would react if they requested that they go to the gate. John knew for sure that if they went, Choma could receive all the help they could want and more, at least they would if Atlantis still stood.

He'd been gone for at least three months and they could be searching for him or they could have written him off, of course he couldn't assume anything because he had no idea what had happened, his last recollection being a blinding white pain that came in from every direction.

Tonight they would speak to the council and propose their plan; Adnon said that they would listen to him the most, even with a 'partial' memory because of what he had done so far. He didn't know what he did to merit that kind of faith, but it must have been one hell of a deed. And hopefully, tomorrow they could be heading for Atlantis.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

--

In the end it wasn't that hard to convince the council to let them go to the gate. All John really had to do was to say that he thought there was something there that would help them fight the 'Vamps'. They trusted him, which was weird because to get people to trust you, you usually have to let them know you pretty well and the council had taken him at his word.

The only thing was that they had to be back by the time he was supposed to blow up the hive ship. He didn't think that would be too bad but he really didn't know what was going on in Atlantis right now.

Choma had amazing technology though, they would have made great allies if John could just get back to Atlantis and get them to send though a contingent of marines and supplies. Then Choma could rebuild and such, hoping that they will stay off the Wraith's radar.

Trin and Adnon were going with him, Mat was staying with an uncle, and they took a car under the cover of night to the gate. The Wraith didn't mind attacking day or night but at least at night they didn't have to worry about the Jandors.

The landscape reminded John of post-apocalyptic Earth that he had seen many times in so many summer blockbusters. They passed rusting and abandoned cars on the paved roadside and sometimes John thought that he saw something move between the trees but they were traveling at least 90 miles per hour and he knew that it could just be his mind playing tricks. They only passed though one city, he could tell as the houses got closer and closer together, looking more uniform even though the overgrown front yards had warped the suburbs into a jungle of tall emerald grass and some type of spiraling vines which clothed the houses and chained them together.

As they approached the urbanized part of the city, John could see the damage the city had suffered. The buildings and skyscrapers used to be pristine and proud but now they were broken down, looming giants full of grime and dust. The setup of the city itself was similar to Earth, so similar in fact that John could actually believe that he was just in another country. Except he could tell that the skyscrapers weren't exactly made of concrete and that the metal that held up the street signals weren't exactly rusting the right shade of reddish brown.

When they got to the gate John jumped out of the car and smiled when he realized that he was in the Pegasus Galaxy. At least he was in the neighborhood. He quickly dialed the Atlantis Alpha site and waved Adnon through the gate first. He looked unsure and drove up to the shimmering pool of light, but stilled the car just as he was about to enter. Finally deciding that he would follow, John sighed and walked through first.

--

Rodney was in the control room the Stargate activated. Being bored and somewhat distracted he watched as the tech guy opened the iris for the Alpha site. They didn't have a scheduled activation with them but it wasn't out of the ordinary which was why he couldn't explain the sudden tightening in his gut that told him to _look_ at the freaking wormhole.

He watched the vertical water-like surface intently, expecting…he didn't know what. It looked almost innocent, belying the gazillions of miles that could be traveled in the matter of seconds. It shined and played with the light gently and Rodney had no idea why he was watching. This had happened thousands of times before and it was always the Alpha site sending through some new information from trading worlds who weren't enemies with them. Why was this time any different?

Finally the cerulean portal rippled and a marine walked through. He gave them all a bright yet confused smile and turned around to face the wormhole. A moment later three more shapes popped through.

One of the men caught his attention immediately and he had to stand up because there was no way that this was freaking possible. The man was strikingly familiar and he had to be familiar but not _him_. It couldn't be _him_ because _he_ was dead. _He_ died in a bloody mess of an explosion that no one could have saved him from. And he had learned to accept that.

But the stance was so similar and the dark hair was in the same natural messy style and even from the control room, the face was sharp and the ears were goofily pointy.

Except….it wasn't possible.

He didn't know when he started moving but when he realized that he was running he was already half way down the staircase and _he_ was turning around to face him. Rodney stopped dead on the last step and Sheppard smiled lazily.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

--

He should have expected it, he really, really should have but for some reason it just never crossed his mind. Even though it would have been the exact same thing he would have done if someone who had died, had just came back to life. But really, he couldn't complain because he and the Chomanians were in a pretty nice (isolation) room with a good view of the ocean and a large terrace. But maybe he just felt a little hurt that they suspected the worse from him.

It was protocol though; he had to remind himself that. He forced himself to sit on one of the beds. He had to be clam and think rationally. Then he could get down to business and get back to Choma to help the resistance. They didn't have long and he was sure now that Atlantis had supplies that could help the resistance.

Adnon sat down across from him and grinned, "This place is pretty nice."

John opened his eyes and looked at a man he didn't know but claims that for the last three months they had grown to be good friends. He wondered what he had made them so, he never had trouble making friends but this was a totally different situation. "You've only been in the gate room and infirmary."

Adnon shrugged, "Still one of the best places we've been to."

_We_ Adnon had used _we_. As in a team, as in they were in it together. Three months seemed to be enough time for most of Atlantis to write him off as dead, only he could tell from the brief glance he got from Teyla that she was happy that he was back and from the same glance he could see how confused Rodney was and he remembered Ronon's blank stare.

--

As she practically ran through the hallways she noticed that people all though the city had heard what happened. Some smiled at her enthusiasm as others just looked completely confused. She rushed into the isolation part of the infirmary and spotted the cluster of people she was looking for in one of the rooms. She settled into a graceful walk and made her way towards them.

Ronon stood at the edge of the action and Teyla could see the slight tensing of muscles telling her that he didn't like this situation one bit even though neither of them could feel anything wrong. Actually, to her it felt like everything had just started to become right again.

Rodney was in the middle of group but this time he wasn't loud or questioning everything and everyone. He was standing silently, looking to Colonel Carter and Dr. Keller to make something out of the confusion that he clearly showed on his face.

John stood against the wall between two beds; his arms crossed over his chest and he easily conveyed an almost flippant attitude that Teyla knew to be completely faked. On the bed to her right sat a young woman with a force of authority around her that was well hidden and on the other bed sat a man with dark hair and honey brown eyes who gave her a sly grin. As she walked into their circle she smiled brightly at John and he gave her one of his true smiles that he saves for very rare occasions.

She took a few steps more, inclined to go up to John and welcome him back appropriately but Major Lorne blocked her path. He was opened his mouth to explain but Teyla simply stepped around the Major and wrapped her arms tightly around John, "It's good to see you." she murmured softly enough that no one else would have understood what she had said.

John squeezed back, "Good to see you too."

A moment of silence passed and then Major Lorne said cleared his throat. Immediately Teyla stepped back and stood next to John. She smiled warmly at everyone as Colonel Carter began to speak.

"As far as we know," Carter reported, as if this was a normal occurrence which it pretty much was (knowing her history), "this is Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard of the US Air Force and not some clone or alternate universe version."

"And apart from the partial retrograde amnesia that Colonel Sheppard appears to be suffering from," Dr. Keller jumped in, "he's in perfect health, as are the Chomanians."

"Thanks," John drawled and plastered on a smile which was aimed at Carter and Keller, "that was…reassuring."

"You're dead." Rodney stated, apparently losing his battle to stay a little less blunt.

"Wow, Rodney," John grinned, "less than a day here and your all ready making me feel so welcomed."

Rodney glared at John and Teyla could almost believe that things had never changed, "No I mean I can show you your death certificate if you so wish. Legally, you're dead."

"Technically, I'm not," John replied patting his chest, "And how were you so sure that I died?"

"We found at least three liters of blood on the floor of the outpost," Carter answered, "McKay tested it himself, even after we tested it."

John swallowed, "Yeah, I can see how that can be pretty convincing, what happened?"

"You don't remember?" Rodney asked, clearly surprised.

Before Rodney and John could get into a shouting match, Carter intervened and recounted what happened eight months ago. She didn't have to pay attention, she knew what had happened every second since John's death. One's own death would have been a lot for anyone to take in and Teyla could almost see the exact moment when John shut out his emotions and left only a mask. She touched John's elbow, more for reminding her that he was actually there than for any comfort and John looked up and gave her a nervous twitch of his lips.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: Wow, I didn't notice that it had been four days…yeah, college life is amazingly busy. So I'll update tomorrow as well.

CHAPTER 14

--

As everyone filed out of the isolation room, Teyla lagged behind. According to Carter, John and the Chomanians would be allowed to freely move around with two guards following them at all times. She didn't really mind the detail; all she wanted to do was to stay with John for a few hours.

"I guess you weren't formally introduced," John started shyly, "that's Adnon, that's Trin," John motioned accordingly.

Teyla bowed her head in greeting and introduced herself. "Would any of you care to join me in the cafeteria, I am sure you would like some food."

John grinned, "Great idea."

They walked there with no trouble. Adnon kept asking John and Teyla questions about everything he saw in the city and every few steps they would have to stop as people welcomed John back. She thought it took them at least half an hour to reach the mess while it was less than a five minute walk. But finally they had gotten to the line and each of the Chomanians filled a tray of food as John explained to them what everything was. They found a table at the back and were finally able to eat.

John picked at his food and Teyla waited until he looked up to ask him how he was doing. He shrugged and continued to poke at his lasagna thing, "Can't complain."

She supposed that it was answer enough so she continued to speak about anything the Chomanians wanted until she could get a moment of privacy to actually check on John. The Chomanians were normal, at least for Earth's standard. They seemed to possess technology that was further advanced than average Pegasus Galaxy and Teyla understood why when they said that they had dug up their Stargate and DHD only a year ago. They didn't know what it was and only dug up the warning buried next to it a few weeks after they had already checked it out and thought it to be completely useless.

They couldn't figure out what it had been but now they knew. Of course they had tried to randomly dial the DHD but that had gotten them nowhere. Trin had told her that once they did get a connection but by the time they decided to send a device through to see what was on the other side the connection had shut off. They dialed again but for some reason they couldn't get it to open. So they had waited and finally tried one last time about a week later, again it didn't work and they didn't have time to waste on pursuing the issue because they were in the middle of a war. The government had cancelled the operation after that realizing that the Stargate had no use to them.

--

_He woke up to something wet and cool being pressed against his forehead, but he kept his eyes tightly shut against the bright lights that already filtered through. He didn't feel any pain but at this moment he felt lost, floating and unable to fully connect with all his senses. He wanted to stay where he was, it was nice here. _

_He heard voices off to his left but he couldn't understand what they were saying, though he was positive that they were talking about him. Shifting over he cracked open his eyes to see florescent lights on a plain white ceiling. Squinting he could see a young woman with light red hair gasped when she noticed that he was awake. Before he could say anything she had run off. _

_He never caught her name and in the following confusion of noise and bewilderment and weird commands he never thought to remember to ask. Then he realized that he didn't know his own name, even though they kept asking him. He didn't even know who _they_ were. _

_He was aching with exhaustion, although he knew that he had just woken up, and when he tried to think past these last few moments his mind came to a grinding halt against a white insanely blank wall. _

"_What's your name?" they asked again, and once more his voice caught in his throat and died savagely. _

Teyla led them to unused quarters, John would have done it himself but he feared that he wouldn't have known where they were and good thing he let her lead because the way he would have chosen wasn't even close to where Teyla had brought them.

As Teyla left, John followed her out. He had wanted to talk to her privately for the last two hours but he hadn't been able to find any time alone with her.

"John," she smiled and then stared at the one guard who decided to follow them until he backed into the room with the Chomanians.

He grinned back at her, unbelievably happy that she completely welcomed him back. He could tell that it was a hard thing for Rodney and Ronon, hell it was even hard Carter who actually had experience with this kind of thing. But Teyla was the only one who completely welcomed him back. "What's up?"

"I knew that you would come back." Teyla said directly.

John quirked an eyebrow at her, "How?"

Teyla smiled cryptically, "There were many signs."

John nodded, "I suppose that's the best explanation I'm gonna get."

"Probably," Teyla beamed and touched her forehead to his. She really missed him. It had actually been half a year. He could see it in how her face had changed. She had no wrinkles, no new visible scars, and it was the same exact face but it was subtle, in his memory it looked somehow younger without extra hardships.

There was a beat of silence which John found utterly comfortable: he was home.


	15. Chapter 15

AN: As promised and thank you so much for the reviews, they still mean so much to me.

CHAPTER 15

--

Maybe he wasn't being fair at the moment, but it had been a shock to see John alive and perfectly healthy and he was pretty sure he was still in shock, so of course he made one of the other doctors check him over and they obliged and then told him in a bored voice that he was overreacting. Which really wasn't saying much because if he thought about it, he was always overreacting.

After the initial meeting in the infirmary and a few hours of freaking out, he was finally calm enough to seek out Sheppard and pull him away from his new found friends. Since no one absolutely trusted him yet, Rodney and John had to walk through the halls towards Sheppard's quarters with some guard with a French accent whose name Rodney couldn't quite pronounce. At that point he had kept babbling on about the weather and there was a little filling in about what had happened in the last eight months, a drawn out description of how it felt when he discovered that he was now allergic to strawberries, and absolutely nothing of any importance until they reached the entrance to Sheppard's room.

They stood for several seconds just staring at the door, Rodney didn't feel like opening it and John seemed like he was waiting for…something.

"It just doesn't seem like I've been gone for a that long," John said softly, "feels more like a few days, a week at most."

Rodney shrugged but didn't say anything. He wasn't sure if this was really Sheppard, despite the charming personality and the DNA test that confirmed it. It felt surreal at this point, it's been months and he had started to get used to it. The whole team had adjusted to it, sure it still felt like it was missing something important but death was part of life. He learned that lesson time and time again in the Pegasus Galaxy.

But how was he supposed to feel now? This wasn't some copy that he could explain to himself rationally; this was the real John Sheppard whose ass he had to save on multiple occasions. This was the man who was his best friend. This was the man who died without leaving a body. Probably, most likely, ascended and then did something stupid enough for the idiots to send him back to this plane of existence on an unknown planet with no memory.

No wait, that was only if this really was Sheppard, but it couldn't be could it? Was it his inability to think that this was real which caused him to back off every time the thought had entered his mind so far, because he had conditioned himself to believe that his best friend had died?

But he never gave up hope. Even though there had been so much blood, there still hadn't been a body, and that had given Rodney hope, a tiny spark that grew into a flame which he kept hidden and alive. If this was Sheppard then time would tell and Rodney would have his best friend back. Maybe not the same man but that only meant that he was real.

When Sheppard thought the door open, Rodney suddenly regained his ability to speak.

--

John knew that Rodney tended to babble incoherently when he was nervous but this was insane. The man just kept going on between five or six different subjects and John had no chance of having a remote response. He settled down on his bed, surprised that his stuff was still here, and waited until Rodney paused to breathe before asking, "Are you alright?"

Rodney stopped at the question and frowned at him, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I was dead," John trailed off and lay down, one hand behind his head and closed his eyes. Arriving had been a rush in itself, it seemed as if Atlantis had missed him and he was surprised when the city welcomed him back with a warmth that still flowed and tingled through his body.

"Yeah," Rodney said softly, "yeah, you were."

"So," John drawled as the silence stretched, "how are you?"

"Eh," Rodney shrugged and waited a beat before asking, "do you remember anything yet?"

"Not really," John answered truthfully, "just waking up on Choma."

Rodney nodded, "So it'll come back soon?"

"It never really went anywhere, Rodney." John said.

A moment passed and John swore that he could hear all the things left unspoken rise up in a crescendo of silence. How much had his team gone through? What changed and how were things going? He could tell that they had grieved for him but he knew that he had missed so much, he was gone for so many memories that they had to make. Did they need him anymore? Hell, did they even _want_ him anymore?

"You know," Rodney started nervously, "I wasn't sure what to believe at first, there wasn't a body and well, I couldn't live with just assuming so I spent months, just trying to get used to you not being there."

John nodded and sighed, so much had changed. But eight months wouldn't be enough to forget about someone who had been an integral part of your life. It was weird because even though he knew that time had passed, to him it felt like only a few days ago he was sitting down with his brother and his brother's fiancée for a nice Christmas meal. Now it was just past Thanksgiving and it was plain wrong.

"So what was it like?" Rodney asked before the silence could stretch too long.

"What was what like?" John sat up and backed against the headboard.

"Ascending."

"How should I know?"

"How else would you be able to come back from the dead and tell us your thrilling tale of adventure?" Rodney replied acidly.

"What adventure?" John was either getting seriously lost or Rodney must be losing it.

"Look, I know it feels like nothing happened to you but time passed for us." Rodney shot, "I know it might be hard to wrap your head around but the universe doesn't revolve around you. We survived without you. It's been more than half a year, Sheppard. And let me tell you one thing, it hasn't been easy."

He gaped for a second but then realized that even if he did answer he wouldn't have known what to respond to. McKay was angry, that much he understood but John wasn't sure what he was angry about. Was it the fact that he had been gone or because he had come back? He had no right to drop back into their lives when he had gone out so quickly but none of this could be controlled by him, Rodney must have known that but at the moment the scientist had not considered it.

The silence stretched now, bringing out the insanity of what Rodney had just shouted and it must have gotten to the physicist because he was now blushing. No apology though, not that John had expected one, Rodney always did say what he wanted.

He lost eight months of his life and he wasn't even exactly sure what he lost it to yet. He sighed and scratched his head, "You wanna go to the rec room? I told Trin about a movie that I want to show her."

Rodney nodded and as John stood and walked to the door asked, "You really care about them?"

"I don't know them," John paused as the door automatically opened, "but you know me."

"I remember you," Rodney shot back, "there's a subtle difference."

Rodney blushed red once more and John knew that he had instantly regretted the words, but his friend was right.


	16. Chapter 16

AN: I haven't updated in a week and four days?! The next time that happens someone email me or something because I've got the next few chapters ready and not updating is not cool.

CHAPTER 16

--

If you die, you stay dead. At least he had always believed that and usually for most of his life that had gone unchallenged in the face of all things. Things were so much easier when he was on the run. For one, when someone died you could be sure that they would stay dead. But on Atlantis, since he had come to live with these strange people from another galaxy, he had come across so many variations of dead/alternate/clone that he really didn't want to think about it anymore.

He had spent most of his day in the training room, working out just because it allowed him time to not think about anything but after three hours he came back to himself and realized that nothing changed. But putting everything on hold seemed to have given him enough time to adjust so that he could process it.

As the situation was with Sheppard being back, he wasn't sure how to take it. He supposed that he could take it in stride and just go along with it like it was okay. But nothing was okay; he didn't understand how this worked anymore. There are near misses, yes but a near miss isn't a kill. And from reports he knew that Sheppard should be dead. Ronon had counted him gone which really just amounted to death and because the man hadn't come back for months after the announcement, Ronon had grieved properly for the first time in a decade.

Sure there had been Carson, but this time it wasn't the same. Carson didn't fight with him, he was a healer and the man had been there for him but they weren't as close. They were good friends not brothers.

Ronon found Sheppard, along with the Chomanians, in the rec room. When he caught his eyes, Ronon turned and knew that Sheppard would follow him to the balcony that lined the rec room.

--

He stepped out onto the balcony and waited for Ronon to start; knowing full well that whatever came out had to be important. A moment passed with the calls of ocean crashing against the city and the sound of clear emptiness loud in his ears. He shifted restlessly and hoped that Ronon would speak soon because it was really starting to feel awkward out here.

Ronon had his arms crossed over his chest and kept staring at him, as if he was making up his mind as to whether or not John could be believed. John couldn't help but to stare back, willing the Satedan to understand that this was him. Only John knew that Ronon had trouble accepting things like this.

"Is it you?" Ronon finally rumbled lowly, more of a demand than an actual question.

John frowned, but he actually considered the question. He thought it was him and to question that faith was a little weird and the possibility that he might not be him was all too unnerving, but he didn't feel any different and Keller had said that it was him, just with a lot of missing time.

Finally he nodded, "Yeah, it is."

Ronon kept staring and John felt like the Satedan was looking through him and into his soul but that wasn't exactly possible so he tried to get that creepy feeling out of his mind. Ronon grunted and that was almost as good as a smile as John remembered how things worked. The Satedan suddenly stepped up to him and enveloped John in a bone crunching embrace. The air was squeezed out of John's lungs but he couldn't hold back a breathy laugh. Almost as suddenly as the hug started, it ended and Ronon quickly turned around and went back inside.

John sighed, of course it would take some time to get used to this but it was hard for him to find any of this believable. He'd only been gone for a few days, at least that's what it felt like to him but according to everything and everyone it's been eight months. He felt like nothing should have changed even though everything had.


	17. Chapter 17

AN: Well, look at that, I haven't updated in months. Well, Happy New Year!

CHAPTER 17

---

"Shep," Adnon sat down next to him, "we really need to get back."

"I know," John answered, "And I promise we'll go back tomorrow. Or…at least you will."

"What do you mean?" Trin asked as she sat down on his other side.

John wasn't sure how to reply. He knew for a fact that Carter wouldn't stop Adnon and Trin from returning home but, "They might make me stay."

"Oh," Trin said softly, "I thought for a moment, you didn't want to go home."

"They're not going to let you come home?" Adnon jumped in, surprise coloring his voice. "That's like going to Ogied and finding out that they ran out of battery acid."

"What does that-" John frowned but then thought better of it, "you know what, forget it."

Adnon laughed, "I didn't think that would still work."

Home. They wanted him to go home with them. He thought he just came home, but clearly he had made a home on Choma. He had already made the decision that he would go back and he fully intended to go through with that plan. He'd convince Carter to even send some help with them.

"Adnon said you were going to take him swimming today, after the meeting?" Trin brought up suddenly.

John grinned, if things were still the same then the South Pier was a great place for swimming. The waves were pretty peaceful and the water was warmer than usual. They would have fun.

"Just don't die," Trin warned.

"You don't want to come?"

Trin shook her head, her eyes wide with fear.

"Right you don't remember," Adnon murmured.

It was only at this point where he realized that he had two separate lives, one of them he couldn't remember while the other one had considered him dead for the last eight months.

---

Teyla thought that the Choma sounded somewhat like Earth, they were both cut off from the rest of the universe and they both had a great number of people. The only difference she could really see was that Choma hadn't found their Ring until a few months ago, which lead them to be recently discovered by the Wraith and they had a world war which seemed to have prepared them for death but not the fear that they now face.

"Will you help them?" John asked in conclusion.

For a moment, Teyla missed what was said between John and Colonel Carter because from that simple question it was easy to see that John clearly saw himself disconnected from both sides. Then she quickly turned back into the conversation just as Colonel Carter explained that yes of course they would help.

"Anything to help get rid of the Wraith is alright with us." Colonel Carter continued happily, "But I hope you understand that there must be a recon team first."

John nodded but looked like he expected nothing less from the situation.

So they were going to Choma to defeat a whole hive ship and to gain allies who have the same power as the people on Earth. Teyla knew that Colonel Carter would have helped the Chomanians even if it wasn't John doing the asking. This was a wonderful chance and it was just part of Earth culture to help those who needed help.

Since they already trusted John, it wouldn't be that hard at all to get things on the right track, and by the sounds of it Choma would take all the help they could get. They summed up the meeting with Adnon and Trin, all of them agreeing on a number of marines and the amount of supplies being sent. Of course neither Trin nor Adnon were officials. Trin was the closest but she didn't hold any real decision making power, she only had very good opinions that should be followed.

"So what exactly was the plan?" Rodney asked.

"What?" John frowned.

"To blow up the hive ship," Rodney said as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe.

John shrugged, "How should I know?"

"Well, you said that you came up with it," Rodney sniped.

"Yeah," John shrugged, "but I don't remember it."

"Well, maybe," Rodney shot, "if you'd stay out of dangerous situations, this won't become a regular problem for you."

John rolled his eyes and looked back to Carter, "There's one more thing to worry about."

Carter looked at him expectantly as John gave a pause.

"There are these things called Jandors," John explained.


	18. Chapter 18

AN: Hey, look another update! :]

CHAPTER 18

---

He knew that everyone had picked up on his hostility towards Sheppard, but he couldn't help it, he just couldn't be sure that it was John. John died, Rodney knew that because he had to work through all those goddamn things most people call emotions and he had thought that he had gone through all that crap pretty well and now with this sudden change he didn't know what to think or believe…or feel for that matter.

Sure he told himself that he hadn't believed in John's death but maybe he had been deluding himself. Deep down, he really did think that John died and one of the ways of dealing with that fact was pretending that he was somehow alive.

So he lashed out whenever he could and Rodney knew that Sheppard was taking it the way John would take it; absorbing all his hits and firing back with no remorse or care and enough sarcasm to fill a galaxy. So far Sheppard was proving himself but that didn't mean that Rodney would accept this, Rodney had to work this all out first. He was sure that Sheppard ascended, there was no other way around that, and with the reports on Daniel Jackson's ascension Rodney can properly assume that Sheppard had no memory of what the hell happened up there but that didn't mean the memories would never come back, but that was beside the point.

As much as they tried, they couldn't figure out what time it was back on Choma since neither Trin nor Adnon carried time keeping devices because they depended on their personal computers. Trin and Adnon both said that their own biological clocks were a little messed up and they were all tired anyways, thus it was really no help in the end. So they decided to just go through the Alpha site gate in Adnon's car and drive as quick as they could towards some sort of structure if there was still daylight, because even if Carter had okayed the whole saving a whole planet thing, it didn't mean she wanted to go in half-cocked.

The instant they broke through the event horizon, Rodney knew that it was a huge assed mistake; but of course that would never stop them so Adnon gassed the car and they shot through as much untamed forest as possible before they stopped at the edge of a small town.

Adnon turned around and faced everyone and said seriously, "Before we head off to our deaths, I just wanted to say that-"

"Adnon," Trin shouted and smacked the side of his head, "Shut up and drive."

Adnon chuckled and faced the (kind of there) road, "Fine, it's really not that dangerous but we're going to crash into some building, and since we're heading out into open skies the Jandors will see us and they don't stop to ask if you're ready to be lunch."

Rodney whimpered, not that he meant to but he really could not tell if Sheppard's friend was serious or just insane.

Trin turned around and smiled at them, "Don't worry so much, Adnon likes to joke."

At that point, Rodney was sure that even though Adnon wasn't the voice of reason he would never count on Trin to be it either.

---

They couldn't have gone more than half a mile when they heard the first call. It was long and drawn out, as if something was dying but in an disturbingly happy way, kind of like the calls of a thousand seagulls put together to the point where the glass and his bones vibrated.

When Adnon had said 'crash', John didn't think he meant literally, even though John knew for certain that Adnon had no knowledge of American slang, he just never imagined that Adnon was going to drive through the window of a supermarket.

But since there was glass sparkling all over the floor and a giant muddy brown bird swooping down at them, John couldn't really argue that point. A few more were zooming down screeching at the top of their lungs for the rest of their friends. A few followed them through the broken hole in the window and even from thirty feet away John could see the razor sharp beaks and dirt red talons. They flew even faster, howling louder as they sensed live prey.

"Hurry!" someone screamed as Adnon started to run towards the back of the store. John brought up the rear with Ronon, he had to glance back. They were hypnotizing with cold, bottomless eyes which seared into the soul, he couldn't stop glancing back. So he never saw what he tripped over, John only felt a metal pipe slam into his ankle, bringing him to meet the nice blue concrete-like floor. Air escaped him and for a moment he was immobile, laid out on a silver platter. There was something whistling at him and the sound was getting louder, he rolled over just as sharp claws plunged into the floor.

Still slightly fazed by how close the claws had been John didn't move in time when another bird landed with talons digging into his leg. He grunted and tried to kick it off with his free leg but the Jandor wouldn't let go and he only succeeded in making the bone deep cuts longer. Reaching for his gun he could hear Ronon's blaster going off, shooting at something he couldn't see, he freed his gun as the Jandor tried to take off and aimed at it. Before he could get the shot off the Jandor had let flew off.

John tried to stand but fell heavily, looking at the wound from upper to lower thigh, he could see why he couldn't stay up. Ronon's blaster and McKay's gun were going off in the background but nothing was dropping to the floor like it should. He frowned; they should at least be able to hit a few.

The birds were still flying though, easily evading each shot circling lazily closer in a way that shouldn't be possible. A few were even able to start an attack before being driven back by combined gun shots.

Something was wrong, it was like they knew what he was trying to do. Teyla and Trin were beside him, he wasn't sure when they had gotten there but they quickly pulled him up. The Jandors were circling, closer and closer, avoiding the shots Adnon, Rodney, and Ronon shot at them with such precision that John knew that they had to know what was coming before it happened.


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

Ronon had to admit that Adnon knew what he was doing, the man had all the necessary skills of a soldier perfected. What threw him off was the man's personality, though Ronon has known many soldiers in his life time there were few who could still see the brighter side of life after so many trials. At first, the carefree attitude had made Ronon think that the man was a newcomer, but the cover fire that Adnon had laid down as Teyla and Trin got Sheppard into the walk-in freezer, proved to him that Adnon had practice. The shots were distracting and seemingly random but had a finesse that Ronon couldn't place.

The freezer was old and rusted but it was a good idea, built like a bunker it served them greatly. Adnon had said that the darkness of the storage room would keep the Jandors from entering but Ronon knew that to feel completely secure they had to be enclosed somewhere.

Ronon sat down next to Sheppard when he realized that there was nothing to do but wait. "How's the leg?"

"I'll live," Sheppard replied. Ronon heard that saying many times since knowing Sheppard and that had pretty much translated as, 'it hurts like hell'.

Ronon slipped the pressure bandages he carried out of his pocket and put them in the pile Teyla had made, "They're good people."

"I know," Sheppard shifted up until he was sitting upright against the metal wall. "I've lived with them for a while."

Ronon frowned at him, asking the real question with his eyes than with any actual words. Sheppard was defending them, that meant that he had a real connection on Choma, something, probably someone, that held him back.

"They need me." Sheppard explained.

---

Damn it, John knew that it wouldn't have taken long for anyone to figure out but he had hoped that they would at least have the courtesy of waiting until he was in terrible pain to ask him questions about what he was going to do in the future. Especially since he still didn't have a good plan for taking out the wraith.

Sometimes, he thought about what it would have been like if he had stayed on Earth and other times he knew that if he had he would have died from boredom.

With Ronon's help he was able to make it back to the car without any problems, but he had been feeling dizzy and tired for the last two hours and he didn't want to tell anyone because there were more pressing matters than his blood loss.

Ronon had brought up a good question. What would his choice be? Obviously, his friends accepted him back, they wanted him back but he was still needed on Choma. They needed his expertise and then there was Mat. John still didn't know where their relationship stood but, he wanted to find out. He could always ask someone but that wasn't the same as knowing personally where they stood.

He fell into the padded seat and waited for everyone to get in the car before he let himself drift to sleep.

"_Can you tell us your name?" _

_Was he awake?_

"_What's your name?"_

_He could still be dreaming. _

"_What's your name?" _

_Did he even know?_

"_Please, we just want to help."_

_They kept asking him and in between sleep and consciousness, he caught something. Fire and blood and blinding yellow sand against a crisp blue sky. Yells abruptly silenced, sand crunching with each foot step, screams. "Shep-"_

"_Shep," a woman confirmed, "Don't worry, we'll take care of you."_

_He wanted to say that that wasn't it, that wasn't his full name, but he couldn't remember anymore and the pain was pulling at him again. Telling him that if he didn't pass out now, there would be hell to pay. _

_So he let himself go, half listening to soft voices and trying to remember..._


	20. Chapter 20

AN: Ah, the joys of being back in class…

CHAPTER 20

_They told him his name; they said that he told them. He had no reason not to believe them, because everything was wiped clean. There was nothing left but the body and what felt like half a brain. He was like a computer. He could spit out facts and dates and references but he didn't know how to connect them so when he thought of things he just kept them to himself. _

_It didn't matter; it wouldn't help him find himself anyways. He wanted to know who he was not how many different ways there were to kill a person. He wanted to know his favorite color, what he liked to do on rainy days, how he liked his coffee…things like that. But he figured that some things were probably developmental and that he was probably changed for the rest of his life. Still it would be nice to know what he had been like. _

_They didn't know where he came from but that was probably because there were bases all over the world and he had somehow lost his tags. Trin said that it could be trauma related, because when they found him there wasn't a scratch on him. He didn't know what to make of it. He felt like he would be emotionally stronger than that, but then it might have been his strength that broke him. _

_He lost who he was. He can't know anything for sure, all his emotions could be lying to him for all he knew. Maybe there was something incredibly wrong with him and the government made his memory disappear. Then again maybe he was just over-imaginative, he really didn't know. _

"What happened this time?" the nurse looked grimly at him and all John could do was shrug tiredly. It felt like he couldn't get enough air and all he wanted to do was go to sleep. The blood loss must have been a little worse than he thought.

"Jandors," Trin replied as she readied a tray of medical supplies, "Shep got in the way of the floor."

The nurse sighed, "Well, this isn't the worst we've seen you. I wish we could give you your normal bed-"

"He has a bed here?" Rodney asked incredulously, "Seriously, Sheppard, how many times do you get hurt?"

John wanted to at least give Rodney the finger but he didn't want to move anymore, everything felt heavy and things were starting to get blurry. His leg throbbed with each heart beat, the blood from his soaked through tourniquet was starting to leak into his shoe. His headache picked this moment to pick up and the black spots swimming in and out of his vision made him stagger. Hands pushed him onto a bed and he sighed as he passed out.

---

"_It doesn't matter who you were," she whispered softly, "you're who you've always been."_

_But that couldn't be true, could it? What defined a person was more than just emotions and actions, their memories paved the path to reconcile everything that is felt and done. How could he be the same person if he didn't remember who he was? How could he know where he was going if he didn't know where he had been?_

_He had to know, not just because he felt like there was a huge gaping black hole that everyone saw but because he knew that something was missing. There was something he was supposed to be doing, some responsibility that he was failing. What bothered him the most was that it could have been anything from a goldfish to a wife and kids. _

_But maybe, Trin was right. Maybe it really didn't matter and he already knew who he was._

It was coming back in bits and pieces.

_He walked through Trin's door and found that Mat had made him breakfast, it somewhat resembled waffles in shape. Pans were everywhere and ingredients covered the walls. He was caught between being surprised and almost awing at how adorable Mat looked covered in flour. _

_They were sparring in the rec gym. He had no idea he could fight but the instant that Marx threw a punch he defended and everything escalated from there. _

A few cut up memories there.

_Adnon and he were jogging through the corridors, they would do this for another ten minutes and then they would go top-side for a while- _

_-he was running for his life. Branches exploded behind him, he could feel pieces of twigs smash against his legs. He could hear pounding feet from an unknown direction. He tripped and almost fell, but pushed on with his ankle hurting in a way it shouldn't. _

_-Mat smiled happily up at him as he looked at the picture in his hand. _

_-Trin threw a piece of fruit at him_

_-Marx and Jez pushed him into the indoor pool, fully dressed. He let himself drop to the bottom and he held his breath until Jez jumped into the pool after him. _

A flash of insight here.

_Trin pointed at a skyscraper off in the distance, explaining that she had used to live there. They were up in the entrance tree, the platform was really only built for one so they were squished together. He had his arms around her, he told himself that it was only because they were more comfortable standing like that but somewhere in his heart he knew he wanted more. _

_He looked down at her until she turned back and saw him gazing into her eyes. The sun was starting to set and the light made her glow. She smiled and shifted a little, so that there was an inch of space between them and he took the hint. _

Disoriented and out of order.

_He ran through the halls, not knowing where he was going or who he was crashing into. There had to be a way out, these people were crazy. The world wasn't like this. Of course there were aliens, but they weren't attacking the world. The world was safely in ignorant bliss.  
_

But it was coming.


	21. Chapter 21

AN: I'll try to remember to update in the coming days. It's still not finished but I have more of it written now.

CHAPTER 21

_It had started off with a simple reconnaissance mission. Simple. Seriously. _

_Signals were bad. They could never work because signals could be intercepted and they could never trust that the Vamps wouldn't ever hack in, so Choma had slowly set up communications with the rest of the bases of the world. Underground lines which crisscrossed the entire globe, but theirs was somehow down. Sure lines could be tapped, but the Vamps hadn't detected them yet, so it seemed unlikely that they ever will. The line had gone through the city, hooked up to the solar panels for easy access and limitless power. They were even kept separate from the earth by small air tight tubes, they were practically impenetrable. But somehow, it was broken. _

_Adnon, Marx, Jez, and he were suppose to go into the city and check it out for any problems, really they hadn't expected to find anything. All they had to do was walk through an abandoned city and then go back to base and report that they had found nothing worth noting. _

_Adnon and Marx had gone east while Jez and he had gone west. They were talking on the radios, about nothing remotely related to their mission but that meant that they had contact which was good. The tall buildings and creaking frames made it seem like everyone else in the world was dead and gone, but their echoing voices reminded him that everyone had just moved somewhere safer. So when Jez said that they should check out the creepy library, Shep wanted to say something along the lines of 'Don't go in there! That's exactly where the aliens are hiding!'_

_But the whole reason of going through the city was to ensure that it was safe for the techs to come. So with all his senses screaming at him, he led Jez in and they found themselves in a room which seemed normal enough. But as they walked further and deeper, between tall shelves stocked with dusty, forgotten books they started to see purple tendrils which had crept up along the walls and furniture. _

_He put his hand out and stopped Jez from another step. Stock still, he listened for any sound which might give him a clue. But this was bad, so bad and he didn't know why. The purple tendrils might be some sort of plant but he knew that wasn't true. They were dangerous. He knew it but he had never seen them in his life, he just knew with a surety that scared him. _

_He wanted to grab Jez and get out of there but he wasn't sure if he should. They had a job to do but this was wrong, something was off. Shep took another step away from their only means of escape and waited. There had to be some more tactical approach to this. He couldn't just base this all on gut instinct, as much as that had helped, he could not go back to base to report that it was unsafe for them to fix their only means of communication with the rest of the world due to his feelings. _

_A creak of old floor boards made them turn around to face a pitch black archway. Damn, he should have thought this through. They were trapped. Whatever was there had them cornered. _

_Another creak, followed by swift almost undetectable movement. There was more than one and he couldn't see any of them. _

_Screaming. Pain-filled and terror induced, but it wasn't from him. Jez crumpled behind him and Shep knew he couldn't help but he kneeled down and put his fingers to Jez's neck. He had only passed out. But this still left him in a pitch black room with an unknown assailant. _

_There were a few ways about this, he could either try and drag Jez out the door or he alone could go deeper into the library and hope that their attackers would follow him and leave Jez alone. _

_---_

_He looked up when the key scratched into the lock of the cell door, expecting another one of the Vamps to come in and demand he tell them where their base was. He was prepared to fight, crouched on the floor and ready to leap at his fist attacker, his fists clenched around a pipe he had managed to break off. _

_He never thought that they took prisoners but then again why wouldn't they, a race with the power of space travel had to have enough brains to do a proper questioning. _

_He just wished they weren't so damned smart. Shep didn't want to feel the Vamp's clammy, dead looking hand on his chest and the terrible pain which took out all his warmth, draining him of everything he has and then more. He was dying, he could feel that. Every time that cold hand touched his chest, he knew he was getting closer to death, and they would take him to the brink of it. _

_But the worst part was when they'd give it back. When the Vamp's clammy hand gave Shep back his life, he knew that the Vamp wasn't giving everything back. He knew that some part of him was staying gone but he felt like he could take on the world and that nothing could hurt him. He was starting not to care that he was losing himself bit by bit and that scared him more than the deadly cold. _

_There was always another Vamp. A 'she'. And she came in just as he was feeling that high burst of energy but she only talked to him the that first time. _

_When the cell door burst open, it wasn't the Vamps but Adnon, Jez, and Marx. _

---

"_Shep!" _

_He turned his head in time to see a blur jump at him, he caught it and wasn't surprised in the least to find Mat staring up at him happily. _

"_What's up little man?"_

"_You're better now." Mat stated with confidence. _

"_Just about, the docs say they're gonna let me go soon." He was still in the infirmary, he was scheduled for a complete psychological analysis later today but he still got to leave and why mention that the other part if it wasn't that important._

"_Good," the little boy nodded and pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, "We made you this in class today. Kani said that you better not die."_

_Shep laughed, "Tell him not to worry."_

"_Come on, Mat," Trin said softly, "let's go so that Shep can sleep and get out of the 'firm." _

_Mat nodded sadly but hugged him once more before jumping off the bed and following Trin out the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts. _

_His hand unconsciously went to his chest, he expected to find some kind of scar there, something to remind him of the number of times that they drained him but he found nothing but smooth skin. _

_He still hadn't told them, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to. Why would it matter anyways? But, it had to matter, or else he wouldn't be thinking about it this much. _

'_She' had read his mind, he felt her trying to push through and he tried, he really tried to keep her out but it felt like she was doing it for hours and he had never felt anything like this before. He shouldn't feel guilty for slipping especially since it only happened the first time, but for some reason his heart made him believe that he should have known how. _

_She hadn't found their base but she found something else, something he didn't know. Buried behind some wall that he constructed, she found his name. His REAL name, but it still didn't mean anything to him though it struck something in her. Her eyes had narrowed and she walked until she was completely in his personal space. _

_Slender cold fingers making a mockery of a caress down his cheek. Sharp teeth in a grimace of a smile, soft mocking laughter. _


	22. Chapter 22

AN: Ok, so yeah… Here! Thank you for the reviews!!! I'll make no promises this time because I seem to fail when I make promises.

--

CHAPTER 22

It was starting to get easier to deal with. Rodney wasn't sure if it had to do with the fact that they were working as a team again or if he was just getting used to it, but he supposed it didn't really matter as long as he could be friends with Sheppard again. Who in a way saved him from the Jandors by becoming freshly bleeding, live bait.

Considering the consequences, he probably shouldn't thank Sheppard for doing so, mostly because it wasn't done on purpose. But more likely just because that wasn't a normal response that most people told a friend in a hospital bed.

"They know me." Sheppard announced.

"What?" Rodney was sure his voice didn't get that high, but he cleared his throat anyways.

"I remember now, they got me for about week and they know me."

"Do you remember everything now?" Rodney asked hopefully.

Sheppard looked at him, confusion clouding his bright eyes, "I can remember more, but…it's all…jumbled up."

"Well, that's helpful," Rodney sighed, "I still don't get why we can't just make a meeting and let everyone talk it out."

"There's a spy," Trin said, "probably more than one."

"A spy? You mean like a wraith worshipper?" Sheppard asked, "Why do I get the feeling that this is some terrible story someone made up just to keep themselves busy."

"Because you think the universe revolves around you." Rodney huffed, "You know, we can always come up with a new plan. Just because your first plan failed doesn't mean it's the end of the world, besides your first plan didn't have me to help."

Sometimes Rodney thought that the people on his team were smarter than he first thought, then sometimes he knew for sure that he was the only person with a brain in the whole galaxy. He probably shouldn't judge but he did anyways. Friendships and IQs had to have something to do with each other, so by that logic Sheppard, Ronon, and Teyla must be at least smarter than average. Thus and therefore it was only logical that they could come up with a plan to defeat the wraith on this miserable planet and restore peace and wonder to the universe.

…Or something like that.

---

John hadn't changed. Teyla could easily see that the past eight months barely had any effect on him. He was the same person; he didn't even look that much older. Then again he had only aged three months while everyone else went eight. She supposed it was only fair as he had already aged six months while everyone else aged a day. She wondered if John ever thought about how old he was, considering all the temporal changes they went though it might be impossible to know exactly how old any of them were, but there had to be a better way than just guessing.

Then again, it really didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was finally back and he was even on the mend. It was perfect; it was everything that she hoped that would happen and more. Only…

Only she never thought that he would end up on a planet which was like Earth but not and that he would have had people who cared about him as much as the people on Atlantis cared about him. She could see it in their eyes and how Trin and Adnon moved around John, she could see that they were all closer than John suspected. Mostly because in times of crisis people tend to form tight bonds, strength and loyalty that would not break because it had already been tested.

It was good that John had ended up with good people but, Teyla could see that soon John would have to make a choice and she feared that Atlantis might not be his choice. He had enough going for him on Choma, enough people to care about and enough to care about for him to stay.

There was no way that John would leave with severed ties to Choma. If he left at all.

When it came right down to it, she never thought that John would have anywhere else to go.


	23. Chapter 23

AN: Still no promises, but thank you for the reviews! I promise that they help me write faster.

CHAPTER 23

Ronon was sitting with Sheppard, this time miraculously without one of the Chomanians there as well. He supposed they were starting to trust them with Sheppard's safety. It was good that they were trusting or maybe they were too trusting. If they were in the reverse positions, Ronon would have made sure that Sheppard was never without one of the team. The doctors here weren't terrible, not that Ronon gave much thought to the medical profession but they seemed just as competent as the doctors at Atlantis, without the same level of technology but they were good.

They said that if there weren't any new problems by evening, Sheppard could leave in the morning. Sheppard would be glad, he'd always hated the infirmary. Looking at Sheppard now, he couldn't believe that his friend was back. Ronon had written him off, of course he knew that he shouldn't have but that was how things were with him. Out of sight, out of mind. He was all about the moment. There was nothing wrong with that. How could there be? How can anyone spend their whole lives just waiting? Ronon seized every moment and this moment was telling him that his friend was back. Sure, there was no explaining how he got back, but did that really matter?

Sheppard moaned in his sleep, brining Ronon's attention back to the infirmary.

---

"_Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard." 'She' almost sighed, her face twisted into what Shep thought might be joy. "They told us you were dead." _

_He didn't know how to respond. They? Who were they? And he certainly wasn't dead. At least not yet. _

_She had taken his silence as confirmation and with a horrible grin she started speaking again, "We knew you were lying, but I would have expected that your high morals would have forced you out of hiding. Do you value your life above others, now?"_

_Shep frowned, people died for him? How many? Why? _

_She laughed hauntingly at his frown, "Don't fret, you'll soon be out of our hands, of course not before we have our fun." _

_She signaled her one of her men forward, the Vamp confidently and quickly strode up to him, and all in one gracefully economic movement the Vamp had one hand around his throat and was pushing him against the wall. The Vamp grinned at him, insanely happy as one silted palm slid gracefully down and landed heavily on his chest. _

_-Shep bolted up from his bed, his breaths deafening in the silent room. A dream. Just a dream. More of a memory but still. It wasn't happening to him right now. And that was the important thing. _

_He'd been back for a week now and no one was questioning him about his behavior yet even though he knew that he was jumping at the slightest sounds and that his eccentric behavior was starting to scare Mat. They were letting him handle it by himself first or maybe they just didn't know what to do yet. _

_--- _

"_We're worried about you."_

_Not the greatest words in the world and he had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last time he heard them. But what could he say? Trin and Adnon cared about him, so much that they wanted to speak about feelings, which is rarely done unless in life or death situations, at least in his perspective it should only be done in life or death situations. _

_Shrugging in response he smiled sadly. He couldn't say anything. He was too tired to come up with any lie which would keep them from questioning him. _

"_It's been two weeks and you're still not sleeping or eating well." Adnon pointed out, "This is a bad, Shep."_

"_We just want to make sure that you'll be alright," Trin added, "I know you like handling these kinds of things by yourself, but you can't, not this time."_

_He couldn't unlock his jaw, he was afraid that if he said anything now everything would come out in a flood and they couldn't know what happened. They didn't have to know._

"_I know you don't want to hear this," Adnon sighed, "but you need to talk about this, you need to start to get over this."_

_He nodded in response, he knew they were trying to help. He knew that they wanted him better, not just because they needed him to help them in the resistance but because they truly cared about his sanity. He couldn't face this alone, they were right about that as well but he couldn't get the words in his head through his lips. He had so much to say but he couldn't say half of it because if he did then they would know about him and about 'Her' and they seriously didn't need to know about Her. _

_---_

_It was an intrusion, a violation on a level which shouldn't be felt. He struggled against it, he tried to keep her out. But she was forceful and persistently demanding and probably not starving and half beaten to death. _

_He needed to keep her out, keep her away from anything that he knew about the base. He had people to protect and they needed to be kept safe. He didn't care about himself, but there were kids there. Little kids. Whole families of people who were just trying to survive and he couldn't let them down, he couldn't let those kids go without even a chance at living. Some of them can't even remember what sunlight felt like. _

_She dug and burrowed, clawing her way in and his head had started throbbing an hour ago and now it started to feel like she was hammering into his brain with shards of broken glass. It was wearing down on him but he held on, still kept the thoughts locked up as tight as he could. But as he held tighter onto the thoughts of the base, she started to probe at other thoughts, thoughts he couldn't explain and didn't fully know about but she could get to them and he figured that if it kept her busy then maybe it would keep her from finding anything important. _


	24. Chapter 24

AN: OK! So I think I'll be posting a chapter every two days. THE END IS NIGH!

Chapter 24

---

Carter sent them everything they needed and Teyla was sure that they could pull off Rodney's plan without a problem. Besides the Wraith weren't expecting anything from this planet, they thought they had pasture here and Teyla was willing to do anything to help the people of this planet.

Though the Wraith knew Sheppard was here that had been a few months ago, any security measures they might had put up were most likely taken down by now. If everything went well, they could be back at Atlantis in three days time.

John was not allowed to participate in the upcoming mission. Rodney had stressed that throughout the meeting and the Chomaninas had the same idea and in not so many words threatened to tie John to a hospital bed if he even thought about sneaking onto a ship. Of course she and her team knew that even that might not stop John but it couldn't hurt to threaten the man as he was still healing.

John didn't take to inactivity well and used just about everything he could to try and get in on the mission, as expected, but there was no rank he could really pull. They were on a different planet whose whole government had been turned on its head and pretty much worked as a true democracy. Meaning that just because he was, in name, the head of the military, he still didn't hold much power when everyone was against him. He didn't have the physical strength to actually carry out any of the treats he had rained down and above all else, he was still legally dead, as Rodney pointed out which pretty much meant that Atlantis didn't have to listen to him either.

So like a five year old, little boy who just found out that Santa didn't bring him any presents this year, John sulked.

"If it makes you feel any better," Rodney tried to console, "you can monitor us from here."

John made a face, "Wow, Rodney, that makes me feel _so_ much better."

---

He believed in his team's competence but he just hated the fact that he wasn't going to be there to help if needed. The mission wasn't even that hard. All the team had to do was get on the hive ship, set a few explosives off and run back down to Choma. Really, just simple and eloquent. He could stay in the jumper the whole time and maybe no one would even notice.

Of course that way he wouldn't be physically helping and in those terms he mind as well stay on Choma and at least have a comfortable chair to sit in while he watched his team set off deadly explosives in an enemy ship. So it was logical that John should stay on Choma but logic never worked in John's favor. There have been many times when logic was the only thing that didn't make sense. And though logic was telling him right now to sit down and just wait it out, his gut was telling him to get on the jumper.

It couldn't hurt. If he was quiet, maybe no one would even find out.

Who was he kidding? EVERYONE would find out. But maybe…

---

_Maybe he could figure something out. He could possibly escape if he put enough thought into a plan but he could barely concentrate with the way his was heart beating a beat closer to those of a jackhammer and how his head constantly felt like it was being swished around in a bucket full of sharp pieces of ice. _

_Shep couldn't get the taste of blood out of his mouth and every now and then the guards would switch out and his heart would seize up with the fear that it might be 'her' again. This time he wasn't sure if he could keep out of the information about Choma. Everything was getting blurry and mixed up. His thoughts were harder to keep straight and words kept popping up that meant nothing at all. Images of a beautiful city he had never been to and of people he couldn't remember appeared in his head. He tried to keep the pictures clear but they still meant nothing. _

_A woman with bright reddish brown hair and dark skin. She was in her 30s and with sincere bright brown eyes he knew he could trust her. He kept seeing her soft smile and for some reason it made him feel better. But Shep didn't know her. He didn't know her name or what she meant to him. Never knew her. But he could see her so clearly. _

_Footsteps sounded at the door and again his heart seized up with terror. This time his nightmare banged the door open. Two guards entered first and 'she' slowly sauntered in. Shep stood up on unsteady legs, he remembered that he had to be standing up to face them but he didn't know why. Some sense of equality that had too much meaning to be understood at the moment but was now delegated to natural instinct. The only problem was that he didn't know how much longer he could stay standing. _

"_Colonel Sheppard," 'she' seemed to enjoy calling him that and if it could buy Shep a few minutes before the torture started, he welcomed any distractions."You have put up a valiant fight; I would never have expected a _human_ to be able to keep information from us for this long."_


	25. Chapter 25

---

Chapter 25

Ronon smirked. He knew Sheppard couldn't resist going, there was no way that Sheppard would let this mission go on without him being there. And although Ronon knew that it was better if Sheppard stayed on Choma, where there was no possibility that he would get further injured, Ronon always believed that life couldn't be lived without risk. Although stupid as it may be, Sheppard had every right to sneak onto the jumper and hide in the back. And if no one else could sense Sheppard's presence, then who was he to say anything about Sheppard's 'reckless' behavior?

McKay launched the jumper and immediately cloaked it before breaking through the atmosphere. Nope, they never noticed a thing.

Once they were in space, Major Lorne stood and muttered about his pack and opened the back hatch. As it swished open, he found John sitting on a bench looking somewhat bored.

"What?" Sheppard asked in an almost perfected mock of an annoyed voice, as if he had every right to stowaway in the back.

Ronon smirked as he joined Lorne, "Nothing."

Sheppard was going to be in enough trouble with everyone else. Ronon just thought this was funny. But not in the pee-in-your-pants way funny. No, this was more like why-the-hell-are-you-laughing-this-is-so-serious funny.

"John!" Teyla almost screamed as she appeared beside Ronon and Ronon could see on Sheppard's face the exact moment that Sheppard realized that this was a horrible idea.

"Shep!" Trin sounded just as annoyed with Sheppard, "What did we tell you about sneaking onto ships when you're half dead?"

"Ummm…. Don't?" Sheppard sheepishly questioned.

"Told you," Ronon grinned, "should have tied him to the bed."

---

"This is one of the most, stupidest, irresponsible, asinine, foolish, brainless, immature, careless things that you've ever done" Rodney muttered angrily.

"Most of those words mean the same thing." John tried to get everyone to calm down a little. This was seriously going a little over board. John knew that they would all be angry but Rodney was a surprise. He thought the physicist would have been slightly annoyed, snap at him a few times but this unleashed fury was unexpected. "And what about that time I-"

"No, this is absolutely stupider than that." Rodney stated firmly.

"But you haven't-"

"It doesn't matter." Rodney snapped, "Just shut up and try not to do anything dumb while we're gone."

John rolled his eyes, "Rodney, you're overreacting."

"I'm overreacting?" Rodney said in a high pitched yell, "Overreacting? I pretty sure I'm under reacting. You were supposed to stay on Choma, and you better be glad that I didn't just turn the jumper around and drop you off."

"Drop me off?" John questioned incredulously.

"As in turn around and dump your sorry ass back on that planet. Or better yet we should have left you back to Atlantis." Rodney spluttered angrily.

"Who died and made you king?"

"You!" Rodney yelled. Rodney stopped short, the scientist looked like he wanted to say more but then he must have changed his mind as he shook his head and gathered the rest of his gear.

John was stunned. It was an oversight on his part. He should have thought of this. Of course Rodney would be upset. John had _died_. Then out of nowhere, came back to life and almost died at the talons of gigantic angry birds and then idiotically and unnecessarily risked his life again. Almost all of this happened within a week. Overwhelming, yes. Overreacting, maybe not.


	26. Chapter 26

AN: Thank you to those who are still following me. Seriously, your reviews are what made me want to finish this.

Chapter 26

The tensions in the Jumper had not decreased when Rodney zoomed in and landed. Not daring to look at John, Rodney quickly gathered up his laptop and his explosives and then left the ship, leading everyone into the hive.

Rodney didn't want to concentrate on anything but the mission, there were too many…_feelings_ that he had to sort through first. None of which did him any good he realized, as he stalked quickly through the passage ways. Then for the third time, he almost started leading them down the wrong corridor.

The life signs detector still indicated no one but their eight life signs, and as they searched the ship they set charges down at the same time. When they were about to enter the control room, Rodney did another check with the LSD and saw no dots other than theirs. It was starting to make the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. How could a hive ship with so many Wraith be so empty?

Of course this may be completely normal; it wasn't as if Adnon and Trin had been on the hive before so they had nothing to compare it to. But it was just illogical for them not to run into anyone if the Wraith were so active on the planet. By the reports from the Chomanians, the Wraith overran their world by night. When missions were carried out, people were either in danger of being eaten by the Jandors during the day or drained by the Wraith, day or night. At no time was it safe to be outside.

Trin had explained that they really did try to stay underground. There were projects trying to get the tunnel system to work, anything that could hook up to the subway systems in the cities. But they were having problems expanding the subway system internationally. They never had any type of transport which was built underground for international travel. There was also the added problem that if they only kept to the underground systems they were limited to what it had to offer. What resulted was lots of confusion, especially when communication lines break and teams have to be sent out to fix them, like Sheppard did when he had gotten captured.

Rodney sighed; he would be able to find out more once he got into the control room. From there he could find out what the hell was happening and why they weren't attacked yet. However much he loved the fact that his life was in no danger, he couldn't help but feel that they were missing a huge part of puzzle.

---

Stepping into the control room with Rodney, Teyla immediately walked around the circular dark room and did a cursory check. The LSD never lied before, but it never hurt to be too careful, especially on a hive ship.

Rodney had gone straight to the computers and was already typing furiously fast. Muttering under his breath, Rodney shook his head and continued to frown at his computer screen, "The only thing running is an autopilot for the ship to keep orbiting Choma and to keep up life support."

Teyla listened for anything out the ordinary, but the Wraith presence was not as strong as it was down on the planet. She had already expressed that several times but Rodney kept insisting that someone, _someone_, had to be on the ship. Not all the Wraith could be on the planet that just made no sense to the physicist. Teyla had agreed with the sentiment but she could only feel a faint whisper of a wraith present. If there were any wraith on the ship they were far from the control room.

"Rodney," Teyla knew she had to be diplomatic with what she was going to say next, she would have to phrase it rightly or Rodney would rule out her opinion completely, "I believe most of the Wraith are not present."

Rodney typed in another string of buttons and sighed, "And I think I know why." Abruptly he held his hand to his headset, "They have bases on Choma. Many, many spread out bases."

"You mean we came here for nothing?" Major Lorne yelled back loudly.

"Well...not exactly for nothing," Rodney replied.


	27. Chapter 27

AN: Changed my mind! So I will now be posting……daily until this is done. Hurray!!!...?

---

Chapter 27

"What were you thinking, Shep?"

Trin's soft question still rung clear in his head as he waited in the Jumper. What had he been thinking? If his actions had been performed by one of his soldiers, they would have been in such deep trouble. It was reckless and unnecessary…but…he couldn't just sit on Choma and wait.

John sighed, he hadn't been thinking. It was just a reaction, he couldn't help it. He just didn't think through his actions sometimes. He idly checked in with Lorne and Ronon, just because he knew that they wouldn't scream back at him for something like this. They both understood the stress and helplessness of inactivity.

It was just that…

---

…_he wished that he could do better. Be stronger. He knew he could be, if only he were tough enough he would be able to stand up to Her. Maybe even escape. But he just felt so drained and everything hurt too much and he was sure that made him easier to question but he was starting to waver. _

_Every time She nudged him along, it was like he had a new memory. It was strange. He knew he lead a life before the Resistance, he just couldn't remember it and here She was, his worst known nightmare yanking them out of the dust and thrusting them right up to his eyeballs. But it still didn't help much. _

_She dug in ferociously each time, breaking his mental barriers with a sledgehammer. Every time She hit something, the memory felt like it would set his brain on fire. What she forced out seemed so random that he could barely make it connect to anything. He saw glimpses of moments which had no sense of time. He'd be on a beach listening to the soft crashing waves and seagulls in one moment and floating through space feeling like everything was about to end the next. There were flashes of faces, people he knew on some level but he didn't _know_ them. The only thing he really learned was his full name, and he didn't find that particularly useful though it was nice to know. _

_This time was different though. It was dull and slow, like the build up before a storm with the terrifying build up and all. She was changing tactics. She pulled ever so softly at his brain, gentle little pulls which seemed to push him further and further from the aches and pains. She was like a soft beach breeze in the hot dry desert. It didn't make sense but he wanted to give in to it. Let it take him away from the pain and despair to somewhere better. She seemed to offer so much release; it was euphoric in a way. _

_But the offer was too good. It would come with a price. Shep knew that as well as he knew that his next breath would bring a lingering sense of soreness to his broken ribs. He pulled at himself. He couldn't give in. He didn't even know why anymore. He just knew that he had to keep fighting._

_Then she did it again, this time she took away all the pain in his head. It felt clear and good for the first time in what felt like years. It was completely gone and he was so surprised that he could feel his brain latching onto something. He could feel it click into place from a time long ago. A place where his entire life shifted into something else. _

_Unbidden a memory popped up. _

**He was standing in front of the Stargate, watching the entire base move around him. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing, exactly what had to be moved to the Atlantis and all the things to be done and he felt so…out of place. He knew the only reason he was there was because he had the gene but right now he'd prefer to be anywhere else. **

**Somewhere freezing and blinding white maybe. But here he was standing in full gear after his CO just yelled at him for long past mistakes and almost ready to walk through a worm hole in an underground base which lead to god knows where. **

**Life just wasn't fair. Suddenly the gate started to whirl and the dial on the Stargate started to turn. As each chevron locked in, he scarred each symbol into his brain. **

"_How do we get to Earth?" _


	28. Chapter 28

AN: Blah…I've been sick. So…I'm really really tired right now. But at least I remembered today. :]

---

Chapter 28

Most of the hive ships had the same basic build so Ronon knew where he was going. He knew that if any Wraith were left on the ship, they'd be in the hibernation room. But when Adnon and he got there, they found it distressingly empty. Which was exactly when Rodney announced to the whole team that the Wraith had multiple bases on Choma.

They had been setting down charges on the way towards the hibernation chamber but they weren't going to blow up the ship anymore, so he and Adnon had to pick them up again. He had been hoping that Sheppard would have more to say but it seemed that Sheppard had been oddly silent since McKay had yelled at him for dying and coming back to life. He couldn't blame either of them, but he couldn't help but agree with McKay a little more. Sheppard did _just_ come back, and to lose him so soon after his return would be a tragedy.

"That Rod guy is…uhh…he's…really uptight." Adnon remarked. "I mean no offence," Adnon said quickly, "I can tell that you have been through a lot together."

"Yeah, don't worry." Ronon replied, "McKay gives most people that feeling."

"What does he want to do with the ship?" Adnon asked.

"Get what we can from it. Then blow it up, I guess." Ronon saw no point in being quiet anymore; they had already finished their search and had found nothing really worth reporting. McKay and Teyla had reported that nothing had broken into the control room. Then Trin, Lorne, and Lorne's team had also said that all they found was space dust. So he and Adnon trekked towards the Jumper to report to John and Trin. And as a side mission, to ensure that Sheppard hadn't gotten into anymore trouble.

"Is that what you normally do?" Adnon was still staring at the hive ship corridors, almost as if he expected something alive to jump out of the walls and eat them.

"Just about." Ronon answered truthfully.

"Are you taking Shep with you? When you leave." Adnon questioned solemnly.

"It's up to him."

**---**

Trin was in the front hatch, looking over all the controls that John had just explained to her when he slipped into the rear. He just wanted a little time alone and he knew he couldn't get it if Trin was asking him technological questions. They had left the rear hatch open so he could see the Hive's landing bay, which really wasn't much to stare at since most hives looked almost identical. There were only a few Darts left in the bay but other than that it was mostly empty space.

John sighed; for sure Carter was going to court martial him right after they reinstate him. He could practically see it in his head. It wouldn't be that surprising; he'd been threatened with that long enough to know when it could potentially become a reality. Though he and Carter had a pretty good professional relationship, he wasn't sure if she would be able to overlook this. It had to be worth more than a slap on the wrist. And that wasn't even the worst part; the worst part was that they didn't even find anything interesting. Which really just made him feel stupid.

Looking over the mostly empty bay once more, he gave a final sigh and was about to turn back to the front hatch, when he thought he saw something moving behind the three closest Darts to the Jumper. Frowning he stared until he was sure it was just in his head. Turning, once again he caught something at the edge of his vision.

Now curious and sure that it wasn't just in his head, John grabbed a M-16 and stepped out of the Jumper and towards the Darts all the while aiming the rifle and on high alert. He crept slowly towards the three Darts and making a slow circle around the crafts he found nothing. But he knew something or someone was out here. He could feel it.

Suddenly realizing that this was the reason why his teammates had wanted to leave him on Choma and why Rodney wanted to leave him on Atlantis, he quickly raised his hand to his COM but before he could speak something grabbed him from behind and had him quickly pinned against one of the Darts. The Wraith had a choke hold around his neck and raised him a few inches off the ground.

John tried to get his rifle to point at the Wraith but the Wraith's free hand simply took it out of his hands and tossed it a few feet away.

"Colonel Sheppard," It said as it flashed its sharp teeth, "you came back to play?"

"Let go." John demanded, though he knew that the Wraith wasn't just going to let him go he still had to make some demands. Show that he had some control when there was none. He pulled hard at the hand at his throat but even with two hands it was barely keeping the Wraith from strangling him. He tried to get his legs between the Wraith and himself in order to get better purchase and maybe kick out of the situation but the Wraith only moved closer.


	29. Chapter 29

AN: Hope this isn't too confusing but it's one of my favorite chapters.

---

Chapter 29

The Wraith just about giggled in one of the most disturbing ways possible, "Your race is incredibly amusing."

"Yeah," John ground out as the hand tightened sporadically, "Glad, to be of some use."

"There are much better uses for such a pitiful creature." the Wraith replied, "How is it that something so fragile and weak can put up-"

"_-such a fight?" She asked him as her fingers pressed deeper in his neck. _

_Shep gurgled a response, but he was pretty sure that he wasn't supposed to answer that question. Things were getting so mixed up. So many memories tugging at the surface of his brain that it was starting to hurt more than the actual beating. Well maybe not more, but it could definitely reach a level plain. And that was not something he really wanted to feel. _

_Not all the memories felt like they were his own. Some of them seemed to belong to a different man who looked exactly like him. That man used to be married and he had a brother. And there were other memories there too floating around. Dancing away from him. Right at the tip of his tongue but a million miles away at the same time. _

_Then there were the other memories. Memories that didn't look like they belong to either world. Something had happened to that man who used to be married. Something bad…bloody and cold. _

_When Shep tried to reach out to that man, he felt blistering pain. And suddenly he was trapped somewhere else. Somewhere freezing and crumbling down. He was under a ton of stone with a pipe plunged into his stomach. He could feel his blood pooling beneath his fingers and he knew that he was dying. There was nothing he could do, no one could save him. But there was one way. He knew how to do it already; he had been so close before. He knew he could do it again and he knew there would be consequences but he didn't want to die. There was so much left unfinished and though ascending wouldn't fix everything at least it would give him another chance to…to do something more. _

_The pain seemed to be growing with each second. But if he let it go, let it all go. Then he could be free. He knew that the ancients had rules, millions and millions of rules, but he couldn't think of anything else. He had to try._

_This isn't the way the story ends. Not when- _

-every punch, every kick, every blow, seemed to resonate tenfold. He was fighting back, but he was mostly just trying to keep the Wraith from ripping him limb from limb. Distantly he could hear shouts and screaming but he had no way to even understand what they said. The Wraith had been overconfident. So completely used to the idea that humans were so weak that it forgot that they had sprit. The Wraith was only doing this because it believed that it was toying with him. It had not want to drain him; it just wanted to beat the crap out of him so that it could remind him of how weak-

_-humans actually are. _

_She was still questioning him about this Earth when he came back to himself, but Shep felt completely out of it. As if he were in some sort of underwater fight that was too fast and too slow at the same time for him to comprehend. _

_He got the feeling as if She already knew he was a lost cause and that playing with him was all She had left. Which would mean that they would drain him soon. _

_He didn't want this to end-_

-there were so many better ways to go. Dying like this, helpless at the hands of one Wraith, who was probably not even that high up in the social scale, seemed so dumb compared to his past accomplishments.

Sheppard kicked out, this time his leg connected with something solid and the Wraith hissed, even though the kick must have just felt like a pinch to it. Sheppard's movements were getting more and more sluggish and his moves were probably extremely obvious by now. He didn't know how much longer he could hold out. Between this and just getting out of the infirmary-

-_he knew this couldn't end well. _

_One final punch and again he was up against the wall with Her fingers digging into his throat. He couldn't even try to pry at Her fingers for a micrometer of space, his right arm hung uselessly at his side. She lifted him higher off the ground so that- _

-his toes were dangling and then the Wraith hissed as it raised its feeding hand.


	30. Chapter 30

AN: Real life takes a toll on me. :]

Chapter 30

Ronon holstered his pistol as he ran with the others towards Sheppard and the –hopefully- dead Wraith. He'd have to shoot it a couple more times, but it was down for sure for the moment.

He wasn't sure what had made Sheppard leave the safe confines of the Jumper but he knew that if they had taken one moment longer, Sheppard would have surly died. McKay was going to kill Sheppard once he got better.

Ronon quickly scooped Sheppard up and ran into the invisible Jumper. Lying the almost conscious man on the floor, he pulled down the medical supplies as Trin took over. At the same time he was already yelling rapid fire instructions through the COM.

Damn it all. John Sheppard was like a giant magnet asking for any being to beat him to a bloody pulp.

---

Teyla found John about to nod off in the infirmary. She smiled warmly at him and put her hand on his shoulder in comfort.

"You know," John started roughly, "they told me that I can leave tomorrow morning."

Teyla grinned, "You just got here, John."

"And I can't wait to get out."

"If Ronon and Major Lorne had not gotten there in time-"

"Yeah," John said sleepily, "I know. I was lucky."

"Luck always seems to be by your side." Teyla replied.

"I don't seem to have enough luck to stay out of this kind of stuff though." John said after a moment. He was starting to nod off, his eyes mere slits against the dimmed lights.

"It's the final outcome that matters the most." Teyla said as she pressed her forehead against his. She pulled the sheets up a little further and sat down on the chair. "Rest, John."

His left eye was black and almost swollen shut and his bottom lip was split. His arms were covered in slashes and bruises of vary degrees and sizes. He was pale, his face almost devoid of color, even more so against the whiteness of the blankets.

She knew there were more injuries, hidden under his clothing and bed sheets, that she couldn't see but she had seen enough on the Jumper ride back to Choma. It hadn't looked too bad, but then Rodney had said something about possible internal injuries when John had started coughing up blood.

He had passed out after a fit of coughing and after a good portion of blood dribbled down his chin. This made it much easier for them to rush him into the infirmary, especially without having a conscious John demand that he was well enough to walk there.

When they got to the infirmary, Teyla almost felt like they were back on Atlantis after a bad mission. The doctors and nurses cared just as much as the Atlantis doctors and nurses did about saving John and in that instant Telya knew that he would be alright. They all would because they had pulled through everything together and they would pull through this.


	31. Chapter 31

AN: Well, that was something. Glad I finished, though. I kind of left room for a sequel. But I'm not really sure where that will lead. I would have to think about it.

Chapter 31

Rodney had just informed Carter that their new Wraith ship left on schedule, they sent a crew to bring it to a remote planet and then they would be able to study it to their heart's content. It made him smile; at least something good came out of this trip. As he walked down the hall, towards the room the Chomanians leant to him, Sheppard fell into step with him. They really hadn't talked since he had yelled at him for being an imbecile but they were guys. MEN. And since they were the manly men they were, that conversation can easily be put in the past.

"Busy these last few days?" Sheppard started, somewhat awkwardly.

"Eh," Rodney replied, "With a whole Wraith ship for us to look at I'm sure I'll be even busier soon."

"About what you said-" Sheppard started and trailed off suddenly.

Rodney shrugged it off, he really didn't want to talk about it. He really didn't mean to explode like that, it just kind of happened. He opened to the door to his guest quarters and sat down at the desk and opening his laptop in one completely smooth move.

"When are you going to Atlantis?" Sheppard asked sitting down on the narrow bed.

Rodney had already thought about this. He knew that Sheppard would feel compelled to stay on Choma until the Wraith were wiped from the planet. But at the same time Rodney knew that Sheppard had no way of staying away from Atlantis. Sure, he'd be behind in the times but he catch up soon enough.

"When you do." Rodney answered simply. Though he wasn't well versed in all human emotional exchanges, Rodney knew that he just couldn't leave Sheppard alone. How could he? They were best friends.

Sheppard nodded in acceptance, clapped a hand on his shoulder, and left slowly.

---

"_Where is Earth?" She asked vehemently. _

_He fell onto his hands and knees, his breathing labored as he shakily resisted Her pull. His hand of its own accord started to trace something out on the floor. With nothing to keep the markings where they were the symbol disappeared before they were even truly there but he could see them in his head. Crystal clear. Even though he had no idea what it could mean. _

_He wrenched himself away, rolling into a tight ball to keep whatever more symbols from spilling out. Whatever this was, it was the only thing keeping him alive._

_She growled and kicked him so hard that he flew up and knocked against the stone wall before falling painfully back on the ground. As he passed out he heard the door swing open and another Vamp urgently whispering something to Her. _

John knew there was a job ahead of him. But he was returning to Atlantis as of now. He would be back in two days, with a bit more help, better plans, weapons, and vehicles. They had already moved the gate from Laynend Park underground. Everything was set and ready to go. John---no Atlantis. Atlantis would help Choma free itself.

By destroying the Wraith here, they would gain powerful allies. And he'd be helping his friends. It was really a win-win situation.

---

AN: Thanks for joining me on this ride. Please review!! I don't care if you read this twenty years from now, its nice to know that someone noticed me.


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